Fall Gardening Part 2 - Ornamentals

 

If HGTV has proven anything, it's that people like to live in beautiful places. Whether it's your front yard curb appeal or a backyard you like to hang out in, we all like to enjoy beauty. Gardening offers you the ability to spruce up your outdoor spaces, even after Labor Day. With some smart planning, you don't have to spend a fortune either. 

First, how you approach fall gardening has everything to do with where you live and when your frost date is. (For more info on that, click here.) Most of your plants are going to be toast when the weather hits 32 degrees for the first time. After that, your left with scare crows, straw bales, and pumpkins for decoration. Where I live, we get a frost sometime in mid-October so I plan on enjoying as much color as I can till that happens. 

Next, if you're looking for seasonal annuals to rejuvenate your flower beds, you're going to be in for as much disappointment as I experienced. After driving to four different garden centers, the selection of annual flowers was almost nil and what there was cost far more than I was willing to pay. Unfortunately, that means a lot of what I'm going to tell you will be for next years. 

Some great annuals to buy from seed, plant in the Spring and be patient with for fall color include (but are not limited to), late season sunflowers (some sunflowers are done already), China asters, celosia, marigolds and annual ornamental grasses. Some coleus comes in great fall colors too but be aware that the slightest nip of frost will destroy them forever. You can buy theses seeds for cheap and plant them in the spring. Then you'll have some great flowers in late Summer - mid Autumn. 

Sedum

Another great way to save money is to plan for the long run with perennials. Perennials are plants that will continue to come back year after year so you only have to buy them once. I like to sprinkle some fall blooming Perennials around so my borders have something blooming all the time. I'm not going to talk about Mums here because I'm giving them their own post later. Some of my favorite fall blooming flowers include sedum, trycirtus, and gaillardia. You can also have a beautiful wildflower meadow of goldenrod and asters. 

You can also think about the Autumn beauty of deciduous trees that turn color in fall or the appeal of ornamental bushes like beauty berry or burning bush. 

So, you can have a beautiful yard in fall, it just takes a bit of planning ahead instead of making impulse purchases in the store. What are your tricks to a great garden in fall? Please post below!