Fall is in full swing now- aren't you loving these temperatures we are having this week?! We are loving the milder days outside at the Nursery! The cooler weather brings a stronger desire to enjoy the great outdoors for many of us. Below we are laying out some great plants to plant during Fall to give you awesome color and interest throughout the season. As you know, Fall is a great time to plant, so let's read this post, and get to diggin'!
1. Evergreens are a great Fall backdrop.
'Gold Mop' False Cypress (the lime green shrub in background pic above), 'Woodward' Arborvitae (shown in middle above), and Gardenias (far right in above photo) are three examples of evergreens (Gardenias being semi-evergreen and marginally hardy in our zone) that bring a great variety of color and texture to a landscape. Having a backdrop of evergreens really makes the flowers you plant in front of them pop, and of course, evergreens are great since they do not lose their leaves in Winter. There are many, many options of varieties and sizes at our Nursery, but we wanted to feature these today!
2. 'Mums' the word!
Chrysanthemums are the belle of the ball in Fall. We have so many colors and sizes available. The varieties we grow are perennial, so they will come back for you year after year if you decide to plant them in the ground. Mums look amazing in pots or the ground, and show up well with their bright colors! They love full sun and need to be watered regularly to perform their best. What color is your favorite?!
3. Ornamental Grasses
Fall doesn't seem like Fall without tall grasses blowing in the wind! Or is it just Nursery folks like us who feel that way? :) Ornamental grasses are a wonderful option to plant in our area and they come in virtually every size! This variety right here is the smallest we offer and we had to feature it today for its small stature and cute name- 'Little Bunny'. It tops out at only 10-12" tall and wide, making it ideal for a container pot (mixed with Mums, Pansies, and/or Fall vegetable plants= divine!) or in smaller gardening beds. We also offer sizes that grow 8' tall and everything in between!
4. Euonymus 'Rudy Hagg'
Euony-what? :) You've seen them- they are commonly known as Burning Bush. Known for their spectacularly vibrant red color in Fall, they are a great shrub to plant if you have the room and sun for them. There are different varieties of Burning Bush- this one today grows to be approximately 5' tall and wide. They go especially well near Evergreens so their bright hue can be seen well in Fall. At other times of the year, they have green leaves and lose their leaves in Winter.
5. Fresh Fall Vegetables
Kale, Cabbages, Swiss Chard, Lettuces, and more- they're as tasty as they are pretty! Many landscapers love to intermingle them between other lovelies like pumpkins, grasses, ivy, Pansies, and more in large container pots. And of course, vegetable gardeners love to grow them in their gardens during Fall and Winter! We love the idea of doing both, and if you have never grown them, they love being in a large pot (that has adequate drainage) on a sunny back deck, for example. It really is wonderful to have them close by like that in cooler weather- you can just pop outside and have fresh greens with dinner!
6. Rounding out our list today are Pansies & Violas.
You can think of Pansies and Violas like cousins, but not distant cousins; close cousins. They are very similar, with only a few noticeable differences. Pansies tend to be larger flower heads and you deadhead Pansies for many more blooms (which just means pluck the spent flowers off), whereas Violas (shown above) are a smaller bloom and do not require deadheading. Both love full sun, both bask in cool and cold temps, and both last up until next April or so when we start getting a heat wave again. You can expect these flowers to droop a bit if we have ice or snow, but afterwards they pop back up and look as pretty as ever. We love how each one looks hand painted- they're a beautiful addition to container pots and gardening beds for sure!
If you are newer to gardening or gardening in this area, we hope that gives you some ideas on plants that give great Fall color and interest! What questions do you have for us today? We love hearing from you so feel free to comment below, and we hope to see you soon at your local Nursery!