Fall Into Gardening - A Plant List for Fall
Here are some plants to consider planting in the fall and plants that shine in autumn.
Seed a Wildflower Garden
To stretch the bloom season of your wildflower garden, be sure to include some of the following wildflower perennials:
- Blanket Flower, Gailardia aristada, 18-14 inches, yellow/orange-red, sun, mid/late
- Blue Flax, Linum lewisii, 24”, purple, sun, early-late, early-late
- Purple Coneflower, Echinacea pupurea, 24-36”, purple-pink, sun/part shade, late
- Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium, 14-84”, hot pink, sun. mid-late (Fireweed gets its common name because it's notoriously associated with fire landscapes. It quickly colonizes disturbed areas, including fire scars, and logged land.)
- Desert Globemallow, Spaeralcea, 20-38”, orange/red, sun, mid-late
- Sulphur Flower Buckwheat, Erigonum umbellatum, 6-12”, yellow, sun/part shade, mid-late
- Showy Goldeneye, Viguiera multiflora, 12-40”, yellow, part shade/sun, late
Plant Bulbs
- Daylily (plant with green top just above ground)
- Bleeding heart
- Peony (make sure tuber is just below soil surface with eyes showing at ground level)
- Iris (plant with green top just above ground)
- Asiatic Lily (plant deeper than other roots)
Late Summer/Fall Blooms and Color
Perennials
- Aster, 6-10”, red, pink, lavender blue
- Bee Balm - Monarda, 24-48”, Red, violet, Pink
- Blanket Flower – Gaillardia, 6-10”, yellow, burgundy, gold, maroon
- Boltonia, 3-4’, white, aster-like
- Carnation – Dianthus, 6-14”, red, pink, yellow, white
- Coneflower – Echinacea, 18-36”, purple, white, sunset colors
- Coriopsis ‘Tickseed’, ‘Lanceleaf’, ‘Rosea’- Coreopsis, 6-24”, pale yellow, golden, pink
- Daylily – Hemerocallis,18-30”, pink, yellow, orange. Red, rust; many repeat bloomers
- Goldenrod – Solidago, 18”, golden yellow
- Goldstrum Black Eyed Susan – Rudbeckia, 12-30”, yellow
- Mallow – Malva, 24-30”, rose, white
- Monkshood – Acontium, 24-36”, purple
- Obedient Plant – Physostergia, 24-38”, pink, white
- Garden Phlox - Phlox paniculata, 18-32”, white, pink, blue, red, mauve
- Red Hot Poker – Tritoma, 36”, tri-color, red, orange, yellow
- Russian Sage – Perovskia, 36”, 24-48”, lavender spikes
- Sneezeweed – Helenium, 18-24”, yellow, orange, red
- Sedum 'Autumn Joy’, ‘Moorchen’, ‘Vera Jameson’, 10-24”, pink flowers, green, bronze to bluish foliage
- Virginia Creeper – Parthenocissus, vine, red fall color
- Blue Oat Grass – Helictotrichon sempervirens, ornamental grass, 20-36”, arching glue-gray foliage
- Blue Fescue – Festuca Ovina, ornamental grass, 10”, compact, blue foliage
- Ribbon Grass – Phalaris, grass, ornamental grass, 24-36”, arching bright green-white foliage
- Blue Lyme Grass – Elymus glaucus, ornamental grass, 24-26”, blue-gray foliage
- Male Fern – Dryopteris, fern, 24”, drought tolerant once established
- Royal Fern – Osmunda, fern, 24”, Slow spreading
- Lady Fern – Athyrium, fern, 24”, moist rich soil
Additional Flowers for Fall
- Artemisia, silvery foliage
- Fall blooming asters, reds to purples, hardy mounding plants
- Baby’s breath, white to pink dried flowers
- Euphorbia, orangish foliage, early and late interest, caution sap is a skin and mucus membrane irritant
- Gaillardia, yellow, orange, burgundy, late daisy bloomers
- Lamb’s ear, soft, silver foliage, pinkish blooms
Shrubs with Fall Interest
- Ashleaf Spirea – Soraria sorbifolia, 3-4’ x 3-4’,sun, part-sun, red-bronze, yellow, purple leaf, dried flower plume
- Barberry, red-purple fall color, likes a protected site
- Burning Bush, flame red fall color, likes a protected site
- Common Chokecherry, reddish orange fall color, dark edible berry
- Schubert Chokecherry (Canadian Red), purple/red leaves
- Peking Cotoneaster, purple/red leaves, dark black berry
- Golden Currant, reddish leaves, edible golden berry
- Redtwig Dogwood, Tahoe native, red leaves, red stems through winter
- Variegated Redtwig Dogwood, red, variegated leaf, red stems through winter
- Yellowtwig Dogwood, yellow stems through winter
- Amur Maple, brilliant red leaves, large shrub/small tree, weeping form
- Oregon Grape - Mahonia repens and Mahonia aquafolium (Tahoe native), red-purple foliage, purple berries
- Redleaf Rosa – Rosa rugosa, yellow leaves, large red rose hips
- Woods’ Rose/Interior Rose – Rosa woodsii (Tahoe native), yellow to red leaves, profuse red rose hips
- Sagebrush – Artimesia tridentada, silvery-gray foliage, golden, feathery seed heads
- Serviceberry (Tahoe native), yellow leave, edible purple berry
- Snowberry (Tahoe native), insignificant leaf, profuse while berries through winter
- Spirea ‘Anthony Waterer’, burgundy leaf, nice dried flowers
- Birchleaf Spirea – Spiraea betulifolia, 3-4’, red, orange and purple fall color
- Japanese Spirea – Spiraea japonica ‘Gold mound’, ‘Goldflame’, Little Princess’, ‘Limemound’), good fall color of yellow, orange, copper and red, best color in sun
- Mountain Spirea – Spirea densifloria (Tahoe native), yellow fall color
- Three Leaf Sumac, red-orange lobed leaf (looks like poison oak leaf)
- Staghorn Sumac, reddish leave, great texture
- Assorted Viburnum, yellow-red leaves, wonderful berries
- Evergreens, constant green though all seasons
Sources
- High Altitude Planting: A Practical Guide to Landscaping, Gardening, and Planting Above 6,000 Feet, Ann Barrett, 1999
- Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe and Vicinity, University of Nevada Reno Cooperative Extension, 2000