Among the plants that can be easily cultivated in our gardens are many flowers that bloom in autumn. Some new ideas for classic autumn planting, (almost) forgotten beauties and extraordinary autumn plants are presented below:
Asters and co.: autumn beauties in a new guise
You will be familiar with the usual native hardy autumn flowering perennials such as heather, aster and chrysanthemum, if not, you can find out all about these very comfortable and yet so atmospheric and richly flowering plants in the other articles on autumn flowers in the garden. These autumn beauties are available in an incredible number of cultivars with an incredible number of colors and shades. If you are looking for a very special autumn decoration for the garden, this is exactly what you could play with:
- Buy heather in a variety of shades, from very delicate pink to strong and dark
- You can use this to design a bed quite imaginatively, color gradient from left to right, in concentric circles, in zigzag
- Asters are available in pink, pink, lilac, violet, everything from very bright to really bright and in many shades
- Sounds like the absolute garden dream for little girls, which you should definitely make a reality for your little daughter
- But not only that, a colorfully planted aster firework in all shades of red looks quite grown-up and quite exciting
- It looks a little more autumnal with chrysanthemums, which are available in pink, orange, apricot and golden yellow with red
- But also in dark red, yellow, violet, bronze brown, so you can create a very interestingly patterned chrysanthemum bed
- You won't find the selection you need for such color games at a discount store
- But you will find what you are looking for in the specialist nurseries nearby, if you wish you can even receive notification of delivery
Forgotten Beauties
There are an incredible number of other flowers that bloom in autumn than the species that flood the trade in autumn. These include plants that have always belonged in our environment but are hardly visible anymore. Forgotten beauties, there are more and more passionate gardeners who want to save them, sometimes these long-neglected native plants are even available in new cultivars:
- Achillea filipendulina 'Credo', elegant yarrow, a sea of yellow flowers hovers 80 cm above the bed until October
- Achillea millefolium 'Cassis', garden sheaf, the same in 60 cm height and cherry red flower color
- Aconitum carmichaelii 'Arendsii', garden monkshood, autumn monkshood, its blue-violet flower candles rise a little higher, up to 100 cm
- Anemones bring “delicacy into bloom”, in white, pink, soft purple and light blue, almost 20 species of the pretty anemones are native to us
- Calamintha nepeta 'Triumphator' is a late blooming variety of stone thyme that blooms in light blue flower clouds
- Calylophus serrulatus is the botanical name of the shrubby evening primrose, which shows a sea of yellow flower candles until late autumn
- Campanula rotundifolia, the round-leaved bellflower, forms carpets of dark blue bellflowers that bloom almost all year round
- Centaurium erythraea, commonweed, has many small pink star flowers and is said to strengthen digestion as a herbal schnapps or tea
- Eupatorium fistulosum 'Phantom', a variety of water dost that bears burgundy flowers in clouds
- Geranium psilostemon ‘Patricia’, a cranesbill variety that produces bright pink flowers
- Lafathera clementii 'Red Rum' is a bush mallow crossed from the native L. thuringiaca + L. olbia that blooms pink-red with dark veins
- Malva sylvestris 'Blue Fountain' is a mallow variety with exceptional medium blue, dark blue veined flowers
- Salvia azurea var. grandiflora is a late autumn sage variety with bright blue flowers
- Salvia patens 'Royal Blue', garden sage, shows these flowers in a radiant royal blue
- Teucrium hyrcanicum 'Paradise Delight' is a variety of Caucasus germander that develops intense purple flowers
- Veronica spicata 'Ulster Blue Dwarf', a speedwell variety with purple-blue flowers that gradually cover the ground at a height of 30 cm
- Viola cornuta, the horned violet, grows ground cover, in the variety 'Molly Sanderson' with black-violet flowers
- Stachys palustris, the swamp zest, develops purple flower candles and edible roots that taste similar to radishes, only nuttier
Autumn flowers of the trees
The counterpart to the perennial herbaceous flowering plants are woody plants that give us autumn flowers. Only a few of these are native (they are already dropping their leaves at this time), but many trees have been around for so long that they could be considered naturalized, for example:
- Abelia x grandiflora, large-flowered Abelia, many varieties show their pink flower clusters until October
- Arbutus unedo, the strawberry tree, blooms from October to March and is hardy in mild regions
- Buddleja crispa x loricata 'Silver Anniversary', the butterfly lilac, which only grows to a height of 150 cm and bears beautiful white flowers from August to October
- Brugmansia suaveolens, the angel's trumpet, is also only suitable for mild areas; its expressive flowers appear in the middle of winter
- Hibiscus Syriacus 'Helene' is a shrub marshmallow with a maximum height of 2 m that produces beautiful white flowers with a red interior until October
- Hamamelis intermedia, the hybrid witch hazel, is a European cross between Hamamelis mollis and Hamamelis japonica, which beautifies autumn in many varieties and flower colors
- Hamamelis vernalis 'Carnea', the spring witch hazel, begins to bloom when the H. intermedia has faded, is certainly hardy in our area and, despite the fragrant, delicately colored flowers, is far too rarely planted as an ornamental shrub
- Ceanothus x delilianus, sackflower, the autumn-flowering variety 'Gloire de Versailles', which is hardy in our area, is somewhat reminiscent of lilac, but has already bloomed for months
- Daphne gnidium, the autumn daphne, is evergreen, shows white flowers from August to October and then pretty bright red berries
- Elaeagnus, olive willow, some varieties show their flowers very late, others decorate with variegated foliage
- Gaultheria procumbens, wintergreen, has almost finished blooming at the beginning of autumn, but then they produce pretty red berries
- Heptacodium miconioides, 7 sons of heaven shrub, shows the creamy white fragrant panicle flowers from August to November
- Lagerstroemia hybrid, Indian lilac, blooms similar to lilac, but in bright red and until October
- Lagerstroemia indica, crape myrtle, blooms pink-red and is said to be able to withstand much more cold than the -10 °C cold usually reported
- Lonicera x purpusii, winter-flowering honeysuckle, produces creamy white, fragrant flowers in December, they remain on the bush until April, then red fruits follow
- Sarcococca hookeriana, shadow flower, only blooms after Christmas, the funny flowers are also more suitable for the carnival season
- Veronica subgen. Hebe, the shrub veronica, produces pretty cluster flowers quite late in many varieties
- Viburnum, viburnum, V. bodnantense and V. iburnum farreri, both bloom from December to April
Very special autumn plants
Do you already know everything? Is there a need for variety? Here you go, maybe these autumn bloomers are new to you, they are definitely something very special:
- Akebia quinata, climbing cucumber or chocolate wine, first blooms purple-brown from August to October and then produces edible, slightly bizarre-looking fruits on every climbing frame in the garden, it is hardy down to -28.8 °C
- Aralia racemosa, perennial aralia, flowers white in autumn and then gets red berries
- Blechnum penna-marina, a small Tierra del Fuego fern, grows on the ground in unusual colors
- Clematis heracleifolia 'Wyewale', late-blooming clematis variety with great blue flowers
- Fragaria vesca var. semperflorens 'Alexandria', a monthly strawberry that shows white flowers and red fruits until October
- Passiflora caerulea, passion flower, only develops its wonderful sky-blue flowers in very protected corners, but that's where you should try them out
Conclusion
If you want to have a blooming garden in front of your house in the fall, you can choose from a huge selection of fall flowers - the other fall articles will introduce many more beautiful fall bloomers, all of which last through the winter survive us well and live for several years.
