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Fall Garden Plants © 2006 |
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The most obvious plant for the fall garden is the chrysanthemum. These colorful perennials can be found in a myiad of colors, textures and styles. Planted in the garden, they will last several years, providing color at a time when few other perennials are blooming. Or you can just set the pots around for color on a deck, porch or patio. Other popular fall plants are the ornamental cabbages and kales. Though they are edible, most are grown for their colorful and interesting foliage. They will last right through the first light fall frosts, providing interest here in the midwest until Thanksgiving or later. Pansies and violas are great plants to plant in the fall. Here in southeastern Indiana they will bloom until around Thanksgiving when the cold temperatures usually put them into a daze. Mild periods during the winter may sometimes allow them to bloom and in the spring, they will emerge from the snow and bloom heavily until summer temperatures cut them down for good. Autumn Sedum begins to color up in early August and by early October will assume an nice burgundy-red color which will last until the heavy frosts of mid to late October kill the plant. These perennial plants are quite hardy and will return year after year providing fall color in the garden. Holly plants, both deciduous and evergreen, brighten the fall garden with their bright red berries. The deciduous types seem better suited here in Indiana, the bright red berries remaining on the plant until winter or later. Evergreen hollies sport glossy green leaves plus the red berries and will provide color through early winter. Some roses will continue their bloom into the fall season, and the ones that don't sport bright red hips which provide color and food for the birds. Miniature roses have the longest bloom period, but don't seem to form the hips. Shrubbery plants which color well in the fall include the ever popular burning bush (euonymus alata), fothergilla, and some of the spireas. Chinese dogwood is a small tree, or large shrub, is a true four season plant. In the spring it will bloom with pure white flowers, and the summer leaves are a lustrous green. By fall it will turn a nice burgundy red and the seed berries turn scarlet red and persist into winter. Plants to enliven the fall garden are not hard to find, and it can be well worth the effort to procure them and plant them. Most will reward you for many years. |
