9 Easy Perennials to Plant Now for Beautiful Fall Color
Fall doesn't have to mean the end of garden color. These reliable perennials hit their stride just as summer flowers are fading. Gardening expert Madison Moulton shares the easiest fall bloomers for lasting autumn displays.
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Summer’s end doesn’t mean your garden has to look tired. While you’re tidying up you’re fading perennials, don’t forget you can also plant new ones now to continue the floral color into fall.
Fall-flowering perennials are a must-have to brighten gloomy days when temperatures start to drop. Cooler temperatures and steadier moisture also help the plants perform better themselves, especially compared to the intense heat of mid-summer.
These easy perennials with great fall color are tough and reliable, ideal even for complete beginners. As long as you don’t plant them in the middle of a late summer heat wave, they should establish quickly this month, ready to shine when fall arrives.
Echinacea
Purple coneflowers just keep flowering season after season with practically no help from you. These native plants bloom from midsummer straight through fall, producing flowers that butterflies can’t resist. They seem to get better with age too.
Cooler fall weather means flowers stick around longer and colors stay brighter. The seed heads that follow feed birds and look interesting through winter if you leave them up. The only issue is they may not flower the first year if you’re planting from seed, so you may want to transplant potted ones instead.
Plant them in full sun with decent drainage, and they’ll pretty much take care of themselves. They handle drought once they settle in and don’t need fertilizing. About the only way to kill them is soggy soil.
These easy perennials can spread fall color indoors too, as the flowers are excellent for cutting and last well in arrangements. If you want continuous blooms, deadhead spent flowers regularly. But if you want to feed birds and have winter interest, leave some flowers to go to seed.
Salvia
Hardy salvias bloom non-stop from late summer through hard frost. These easy perennials for fall color send up flower spikes continuously once they get going, giving you months of excitement with almost no effort. Of all the perennials in my garden, these are the ones that have performed the best. Usually, thanks to me leaving them alone.
Like coneflowers, the flower spikes attract hummingbirds and beneficial insects. You can get them in deep purple, blue, pink, white, and red. If you like warmer colors, there are also varieties with an orange or salmon hue.
Most hardy salvias handle drought once they’re established, making them perfect for spots that get ignored during busy fall schedules. They also grow fine in poor soil that would stress other plants. In fact, rich soil can reduce flowering if it’s too high in nitrogen.
Different salvia species can bloom at slightly different times depending on where you live, so you can extend the season further by planting several varieties for even more fall color.
Coreopsis
Coreopsis flowers from early summer until hard frost kills them. It seems like they’re determined to flower no matter what else is going on in the garden, making them one of the easiest perennials you can plant for fall color.
Threadleaf types make clouds of small flowers that move in autumn breezes, while the broader-leafed ones give you bigger blooms for cutting. Both handle drought and poor soil incredibly well and don’t mind establishing in late summer.
Deadheading keeps more flowers coming, but many newer varieties keep blooming even if you don’t bother. They also drop seeds everywhere, giving you new plants without any work. The amount of effort you put in is up to you.
If you plant once, you’ll probably have coreopsis forever unless you take steps to remove these easy perennials. They keep spreading and reseeding, filling empty spots with yellow flowers year after year.
In areas with very hot summers, coreopsis might take a break during the worst heat but come back strong as temperatures cool in fall.
Black-Eyed Susan
Black-eyed Susans are ridiculously easy to grow. These native perennials are synonymous with summer gardens but continue to add color into fall. They’re tough and seem to love being ignored.
As native plants adapted to North American climates, these flowers handle heat, drought, lousy soil, and general neglect while still cranking out masses of flowers. They spread slowly to form nice clumps, but won’t take over aggressively.
Lots of gardeners leave the flowers standing for the winter interest and wildlife value, much like echinacea. The seed heads also provide structure in dormant-season gardens when fall color fades completely.
To grow these easy perennials for fall color, just stick them in full sun and forget about them. They’ll settle in fast and bloom reliably for years with almost no care. Waterlogged soil is about the only thing that bothers them.
Aster
I think you can’t have a colorful fall garden without asters that show up right when temperatures start dropping. These easy perennials time their blooms perfectly for cool weather and migrating butterflies.
The flowers appear just when monarchs and other butterflies need late-season nectar for their journeys. A patch of blooming asters can be covered with butterflies on warm fall days, bringing a buzz of activity to your garden.
New England asters are probably the most reliable and easiest to grow. They handle different soil types and don’t need much once they’re established. The plants can get tall and might need staking in windy spots, but that’s about it.
Pinch the growing tips soon after planting to get bushier growth and more flowers. This stops the tall, floppy look that can make asters messy later on. August is a little late for planting, but as long as you get them in early, they should establish well.
Mums
Garden mums are another staple for fall color, present in almost every fall floral display you can find. These perennials often get treated like annuals, but lots of varieties come back year after year if you plant them right and protect them through winter.
The trick with perennial mums is choosing the right ones. The potted mums you find as fall approaches are bred to last a short time in a container, not for years and years. It’s best to plant in spring, but with the right protection and growing from the right starts, you can establish them now.
Choose hardy garden mums for the highest chance of success, and don’t expect them to perform spectacularly this year. But if they last the season, you’ll have reliable fall color from these easy perennials next year and beyond.
Mulch around plants after the first hard frost to protect roots through winter. Cut back stems in late winter rather than fall to provide additional cold protection. Alternatively, plant them in pots to move them into a protected area over winter.
Japanese Anemone
Japanese anemones bring unmatched elegance to fall gardens. These easy perennials bloom from late summer through fall once established. The flowers seem to float above attractive leaves that look good all season. Plants can grow several feet tall and spread slowly to form big colonies over time.
Japanese anemones like partial shade and steady moisture, making them perfect for gloomy spots where sun-lovers struggle. Deer leave them alone, too, which helps if they are a problem in your area.
Give these easy perennials time to produce their fall color. They can take a year or two to really settle in and bloom well. Once they do, they’re incredibly reliable and long-lived. The plants can live for decades with minimal care.
Sea Holly
This unusual perennial looks more like a thistle than a regular garden flower, but that’s what makes it interesting. The steel-blue flower heads show up in late summer and keep going through fall, giving you unique color and texture that works great with more traditional flowers.
Sea holly works incredibly well for cutting and drying, keeping its color and shape in arrangements. So, if you want an easy perennial for fall color in your cutting garden, this is the one to choose. The flowers also bring in beneficial insects.
Plant them in full sun with good drainage. Heavy, wet soil can kill sea holly if you don’t manage consistency. Once they’re established, they handle drought and live for years. They develop deep taproots that make them extremely drought-tolerant but also difficult to transplant once established.
Dahlia
The final easy perennial for fall color is one you may not expect: dahlias. These spectacular flowers bloom until hard frost stops them, so it is possible to get some fall color out of them in milder climates before they die back for the season. And with so many colors and flower forms available, there’s a dahlia for every garden style.
The main issue with dahlias is winter storage in cold climates, so you’ll be planting relatively late (in dahlia terms) and pulling them up pretty soon. In mild areas, they can often stay in the ground year-round with some mulch protection.
Keep watering and feeding dahlias through fall if you want them to keep flowering. Stake taller varieties early in the season to prevent wind damage. Even dwarf varieties can benefit from support when loaded with heavy flowers.
