Best Hardy Perennials For Vibrant Fall Gardens

The ease of temperatures, signaling autumn is on its way is the perfect time to add blooming fall perennials to your garden.  Although gardeners may grow perennials from planted seeds beginning in spring as soon as the danger of frost has past, most fall perennials need a good year of growth before they will grace your garden with their showy fall colors.

Photo Credit:  Benjamin D. Esham

Choices available for adding bold color to your fall garden are plentiful, with colors ranging from white, yellow, gold, orange, rust, red, as well as yellow, pink, and purple.  Although some hues are demure, most are quite vivid, inviting you to experiment with color combinations in selecting which plants gather in mixed flower beds.

Gardening Tip
Don't be fooled by the milder fall temperatures.  Just as you attend to the light and soil preferences for your spring and summer blooming plants, your hardy fall perennials will fair best by matching their needs to beds that will accommodate them for planting. 

Before selecting perennials to add to your fall garden, create a bed chart before cutting back your summer plants, identifying areas that are already home to earlier blooming residents.  Ensure that your new plants will not crowd existing residents and will have room to establish healthy root systems for best results.

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Gardening Tip
After a long growing season with spring and summer plants taking nutrients from the soil of your garden beds, fall is an excellent time to provide a boost with natural and organic matter for soil improvement.

Just as you select blooming plants of varying heights for your spring and summer garden, add the same visual interest to your fall garden.  Choose a variety of plants, considering height, color, shape and texture for your fall flower beds.  The effect will be stunning!

After planting your blooming fall plants, take care replenish your beds with natural mulch to protect both the plants that are preparing for winter dormancy, as well as your new residents.  While I prefer wood bark, other natural mulch choices include straw, hay, hardwood bark and fallen leaves.  Recycled mulch products are yet another option available to the gardener.

Favorite Hardy Fall Perennials 

Aster (Michaelmas Daisy)

Sedum (Stonecrop)

Rudbeckia (Coneflower)

Physostegia (False Dragonshead)

Coreposis (Tickseed)

Chrysanthemum (Painted Daisy)

Achillea (Yarrow)

Helenium (Sneezeweed)

Which blooming fall plants are your favorite?
Which colors do you like to use in your fall gardens?
Which mulch is your preference?
Tell me in a comment below!  I'd love to hear your thoughts!