Refresh Your Fall Garden

Maintaining a bright, beautiful garden in the summer months is pretty much a no-brainer, but many gardeners forget how many gorgeous fall-blooming perennials and annuals  there are to choose from. If you take a walk around your neighborhood, you might notice flowering shrubs, foliage, and other perennials that you, too, can include in your landscape to make it shine every fall. Check out some of these show-stopping fall-blooming perennials, as well as tips and tricks on how to give your soil a bit of a refresh this season. 

Planting for Fall Color

Hardy Mums

We’re going to get started with a staple fall color perennial—the hardy mum! They are hardy in zones 6 through 9 and come in just about every color imaginable. We are partial to the bright reds, oranges, and yellows that speak so closely to the colors of the season, but you can pick up hardy mums in mauve and pinks as well. They are a sun-loving perennial that enjoys around six hours of sun per day and well-draining soil. No fall gardener can go wrong with hardy mums!

Asters

Asters are perfect for the gardener looking for low-maintenance plants that will bring forth some show-stopping fall color. They are easy to grow and just start to bloom when many other perennials are wrapping up their bloom cycle for the season. With brilliant shades of blue, purple, pink, and white— they make a show-stopping fall garden accent. As an added perk, they are also much-loved by pollinators like bees and monarch butterflies. 

Coneflowers

Coneflowers will start blooming in mid-summer and continue right through until the first frost of the season. Coneflowers can grow anywhere from two to four feet tall, depending on the variety you select, and they are another easy-to-care-for perennial that will bring you lots of great fall color. Drought resistant, critter resistant, attracts pollinators, and makes for a lovely cut flower—what more can you ask for in a fall flower? 

Coreopsis

Hardy in zones 4-9, Coreopsis has an impressively long bloom time. Its sunny yellow flowers will bloom throughout the summer season and well into late fall. Once established, Coreopsis is quite drought resistant, and prefers to be planted in full sun but won’t complain too much if planted in partial shade. As an added bonus, it pairs beautifully with asters in your fall-blooming garden!

Black-Eyed Susans 

Black-Eyed Susan’s are a truly dependable, sunshine-y yellow perennial that you cannot go wrong with. Native to the United States, they are easy to grow, establishing quite quickly in most gardens without a whole lot of upkeep or maintenance aside from deadheading. Their bright yellow petals pair well with purple and blue-toned flowers like asters, catmint, and even purple coneflowers. 

Give Your Fall-Blooming Garden Soil a Little TLC

To give your fall-blooming perennials a better chance at establishing strong roots, it helps to give them a little extra boost by using a starter fertilizer like Biotone Starter Plus. Biotone is an excellent, natural source of nutrients for starting plants because it has a lot of microbes, which are beneficial bacteria that break down the plant food a little quicker, in turn making it readily available to your plants. It also contains mycorrhizae, a beneficial fungus that allows your plant to soak up more nutrients and moisture, creating a stronger root system.

Fall is also the perfect time to give your soil a bit of a refresh with a new layer of compost. We are partial to organic composts like Adoria, which is made from vegetable, fruit, and green waste. Adding organic compost is one of the best ways to create healthy, balanced soil in your garden, and now is an ideal time to do so. Adding a nice thick layer of compost to your garden in the fall will help rebuild any nutrients that may have depleted throughout the growing season, in turn leaving you with lovely renewed garden beds next spring.  

In addition to these gorgeous fall-blooming perennials, there are also plenty of trees, shrubs, and annuals that can add depth and color to your garden long after we’ve kissed summer goodbye for another season. Stop by Blooms Greenhouse to check out our selection and get stocked up on all of the fall gardening essentials you need.