Do you enter your driveway and feel like the garden show’s pretty much over? Late summer is the ideal time to review your landscaping and take stock of various fall garden spaces and see what’s lacking. By this time your spring/summer perennials are providing showy seed-heads…or others may be in need of dead-heading to make them look their best. While not as rich in options as spring and summer, the autumn season offers plenty of gorgeous flowering shrubs and perennials.
Take a glimpse of this list and visit a garden center near you to spruce up your beds before winter approaches:
- Anemone (Honorine Jobert or September Charm are great varieties)
- Ligularia (Little Rocket has bright yellow spikes)
- Ornamental Grasses (most varieties put on the showiest display in the late summer/fall)
- Quickfire Hydrangea (watch the white blooms of this shrub turn a deep rose in the fall)
- Snakeroot (Black Negligee offers beautiful contrasting purple foliage)
- Russian Sage (drought tolerant purple flower spikes)
- Red Hot Poker (brilliant red/orange/yellow spikes in late summer/fall – unique look)
- Liriope (lavender spikes bloom within the grassy foliage)
- Coneflower (many different color/height options and new varieties every year)
- Sedum (the foliage alone is a beautiful addition to a low-maintenance landscape)
- Joe Pye Weed (attracts butterflies by the dozen)
- Monkshood (who doesn’t love shades of blue, and up to 6’H!)
- New England Aster (many color options and butterflies love them)
- Goldenrod (looks wonderful despite the summer’s heat)
*Make sure to review individual plant requirements and site conditions for best results. Happy Planting!
