You live with your landscape 365 days a year. Fall can be full of color just like Spring!
You can extend the color show in your garden all the way through the fall season and even through winter by planting fall blooming plants.
I live and garden in Georgia, so many of the plants listed below are one's known to perform well in the South. If you live and garden further north, make sure to follow the links to the plant pages and check the USDA Hardiness Zones to see if they will grow in your zone.
Sasanqua Camellias
Sasanqua Camellias, like Southern Magnolias and Azaleas, are synonymous with the South. Mature specimens are frequently found in older neighborhoods but not so much in younger neighborhoods. This is both a shame and a mystery. Why is such a long-lived and hardy plant, which blooms when there isn't much else blooming, not more popular than it is? That's a great question. But there's no better time than now to get one or more of these fall-blooming beauties planted in your landscape. Plant one in the fall and it will be well-rooted and off to a great start when spring rolls around. Wherever you place them, they are sure to make a hit!
Sasanqua varieties come in a range of flower colors from white to shades of pink, red, fuchsia and even bicolors that have unique striped or blotched petals. Some have single flowers (1 row of petals) while others have double flowers (multiple rows of petals). The beautiful flowers are produced in abundance during the fall.
Sasanqua Camellias are broadleaf evergreen shrubs with medium to dark green shiny leaves that average 2 to 3 inches in length. They are coveted for their flowers but even if they never bloomed Sasanquas would be an asset just for their foliage. Depending on variety, mature size varies from as low as 4 feet to as high as 15 feet.
Check out the Sasanqua Camellia Collection
Encore© Azaleas
People who adore spring blooming azaleas can now enjoy an explosion of Encore® Azalea color season after season. Encore Azaleas are the only patented brand of azaleas to bloom in spring,summer and fall.
Each of the 30 Encore varieties begins their performance with the spring flowering season. Once this “first act” of blooming concludes, new shoots begin to grow and set buds. The Encore Azalea's "second act" opens when these buds begin blooming into full flower mid- to late-summer. This unique bloom season continues through the fall, the curtain dropping with the onset of cold weather in winter. But, the show goes on. As an "encore," these exceptional azaleas flower again with traditional spring azaleas and the process starts all over again!
Check out the Encore Azalea Collection
Burning Bush
The Dwarf Burning Bush, Euonymus alatus 'Compacta', is one of the most beautiful of all shrubs. It features deep green foliage during the warm season that turns to an intense fire-red color in fall. An unusual corky bark adds interest in the landscape during the winter. The growth habit is upright with a vase shape. The ends of branches are somewhat pendulous which adds even more appeal to this already marvelous shrub.
Dwarf Burning Bush is very easy to grow and low-maintenance, exceptionally drought tolerant plant when established. It adapts to a wide range of soil types provided they are well-drained. It will grow in part shade however displays the best fall foliage color in full to mostly sun. When given room to grow to it's mature size there is no pruning required. USDA Zones: 4a-8b Find Your Zone >
Check out the Dwarf Burning Bush
Beautyberry
Beautyberry is a fast-growing native shrub with fragrant, fuzzy green foliage, but is more prized for the colorful berries it produces in fall. In mid-summer, each leaf axil is surrounded by loads of small, pinkish to bluish flowers followed by clumps of powerfully bright, purple berries that are shaped like small pearls. The leaves turn yellow in the fall and the berries persist well into winter or until the birds get them all. The USDA says Beautyberry has insecticidal properties that repel mosquitoes, ants, and other pesky critters. So you can plant this beauty of a shrub in your garden as an outstanding ornamental, and to help keep bugs away!
Although tolerant of shade and drought, the best growth and berry production occurs with plenty of sunlight. Plants prefer a fertile, well-drained moist soil. USDA Zones: 7a-10b Find Your Zone >
Shrub Roses
When people think of fall, many don't think about roses. But roses are great for adding fall color to your landscape...especially the low-maintenance and disease-resistance shrub roses such as the Knock Outs, Drifts and Sunrosa roses. With the arrival of cooler weather in fall, these roses will put out flushes of blooms that rival their spring bloom.
Knock Out Roses
Today The Knock Out Rose is the most widely sold rose in North America. They are easy to grow and do not require special care. Along with the Drift and Sunrosa roses, the Knock Outs are among the most disease resistant roses on the market. They have stunning flower power with a generous bloom cycle (about every 5-6 weeks) that starts in spring and will continue until the first hard frost.
All of the Knock Out Roses are self-cleaning so there is no need to deadhead unless you just want to. Many gardeners find pruning therapeutic. Knock Out Roses, such as the 'Double Red' (pictured above) can fit into any landscape. Plant them individually among shrubs or in mixed beds and borders. Plant them in large groups to create a colorful mass, or in straight or curved rows to form a low-maintenance hedge. Typically, most higher maintenance, disease-prone roses aren't suitable for planting in front of the home, but Knock Out Roses hold up so well there isn't a problem with using them as colorful accents in foundation plantings.
Check out the Knock Out Rose Collection
Drift Roses
From the introducers of The Knock Out Family of Roses, comes the next big, but littler, thing for small gardens. Like The Knock Outs, Drift Roses are repeat-bloomers that are tough, disease resistant, winter hardy and virtually maintenance-free.
Drift Roses are a cross between full-size groundcover roses and miniature roses. From the former they kept toughness, disease resistance and winter hardiness. From the miniatures, they inherited their well-managed size and repeat-blooming nature. Blooming in cycles from spring to frost, they are naturally dwarf, with very attractive foliage. They are winter hardy to zone 4 and thrive all the way down to zone 11. In our trial gardens, ALL of the varieties of Drift Roses are performing marvelously in our trail gardens!
Check out the Drift Rose Collection
The Sunrosa Roses
Sunrosa Roses are an exciting series from the Suntory Collection. They are beautiful, compact, bushy and highly disease resistant - even in the heat and humidity of the Deep South. They are also very low maintenance and have an exceptionally long flowering period that begins in spring and continues to beyond the first frost. Due to their compact habit, Sunrosa Roses are ideal for small to medium landscape spaces and patio containers. They need less pruning than typical shrub roses, and due to their high disease resistance, are easy to care for.
Sunrosa Roses are exceptionally easy to grow in average, well-drained soils with medium moisture in full sun to part shade. Keep in mind that all roses require morning sun to dry the morning dew from their leaves, but will tolerate some afternoon shade. Sunrosa Roses do not require pruning, however will benefit from it. To keep your Sunrosa Rose full and bushy from year to year prune the branches back to about 4-6 inches above the ground in late winter or early spring. After this hard pruning, you Sunrosa Rose will quickly flush out and start blooming with the arrival of warmer spring temperatures. Deadheading spent flowers through the season is not necessary, however will encourage new buds and flowers. USDA Zones: 5a-10b Find Your Zone >
Check out the Sunrosa Roses