A flowering balcony in autumn: our tips

Which perennials to flower your balcony in autumn?

Autumn is a delightful season as there are numerous plants that bloom during this time. You have a vast and beautiful palette of flowers at your disposal to brighten your balcony, starting with perennial plants.

Heathers

Heathers are among the must-have autumn plants, with their charming little pink, purple, or white flowers. Easy to care for, they thrive in acidic substrates like heather soil, although some species also tolerate calcareous substrates.
For autumn flowering, you can draw inspiration from summer heathers, such as the Summer Heather Calluna vulgaris ‘Marlies’, which is covered in small ruby-red flowers from August to October. You can also choose from winter heathers, like the Winter Heather – Erica x darleyensis ‘Kramer’s Rote’, compact and lovely with its small magenta bell-shaped flowers that bloom from November to March. This variety also tolerates calcareous substrates.
For a vibrant autumn atmosphere, combine a heather in a planter with a cyclamen from Naples, a gaultheria with pretty pink berries, and a variegated ivy to bring in some light, along with a small conifer for verticality or a Japanese touch.

Chrysanthemums

It’s impossible to talk about autumn flowers without mentioning chrysanthemums. These perennial plants also benefit from an incredible variety of shapes and colours, ranging from white to purple, including yellow and pink. Easy to grow, they enjoy sunlight and well-drained, rich soil. For your balcony, opt for compact species like the chrysanthemum rubellum ‘Clara Curtis’ or autumn daisy, with charming pink flowers adorned with a yellow centre, which will add a rustic touch from July to October. If you want a striking autumn yellow, the garden chrysanthemum ‘Citronella’ will surely brighten your pots. Chrysanthemums pair beautifully with ornamental grasses and decorative sages.

Asters

With their purple or pink tones, asters provide an explosion of colours that delights our eyes in autumn. They prefer well-drained substrates and sunny locations. For your balcony, you can choose from dwarf asters. If you love purple, the Aster dumosus ‘Lady in Blue’ offers lovely little lavender-blue daisies in September and October. And if you prefer deep pink, the Aster dumosus ‘Anneke’ forms small cushions of flowers, from August to October. When combined with grasses and purple coneflowers, they create beautiful, colourful rustic displays.

Rudbeckias

These daisies with prominent centres are delightful. They add a bucolic and wild touch that transports us to the countryside. For the balcony, compact rudbeckias are perfect, yellow like the Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Little Goldstar’ or orange like the Rudbeckia triloba ‘Prairie Glow’. Beautiful autumn colours to mix with other brightly coloured flowers, such as crocosmias and zinnias, sprinkled with grasses to lighten the composition and give it a more natural look.

Heleniums

Another type of daisy with prominent centres, Heleniums are perennials that bloom until autumn. With their yellow, orange, and red hues, they are perfect for creating a pot with warm tones. They enjoy sunlight, as well as fertile, consistently moist soil. For your balcony, you can pair them with Buenos Aires verbena, undulating grasses, and yarrow in warm colours.

Japanese Anemones

Another key plant of autumn, the Japanese anemone exudes charm with its flowers ranging from pink to white. They thrive in shade, partial shade, and sunlight as long as the substrate remains moist. For pot cultivation, it’s best to choose compact species, such as Anemone (x) hybrida ‘Fantasy Cinderella’ or hybrid Anemone ‘Satin Doll Rosé’. They pair beautifully with blue asters and the silver foliage of sea cinerarias. You can also place them next to a Japanese red maple for an Asian ambiance.

Aster dumosus ‘Anneke’, heathers and chrysanthemums, Rudbeckia triloba ‘Prairie Glow’ and Anemone (x) hybrida ‘Fantasy Cinderella’

Which bulbs and biennials for a flowering balcony in autumn?

Naples Cyclamen

These small bulbous plants are delightful with their flowers resembling the wings of a butterfly. Naples cyclamen produce white, pink, or purple flowers from August to October, creating a vibrant and charming woodland atmosphere alongside heathers and colchicums. You can mix them together by varying the colours. The leaves resemble small green and marbled hearts. They appear after flowering and persist throughout the winter. These perennials prefer shade or partial shade and are very hardy. In a planter, pink Naples cyclamen delicately pair with Viola cornuta ‘Columbine’.

Colchicums

As the song goes, colchicums bloom at the end of summer and add a lovely splash of colour and a woodland feel to planters and pots in autumn. The colchicum speciosum ‘Atrorubens’ offers purple-tinged flowers with a white centre in October. The Colchicum cilicicum or Cilician colchicum produces light pink flowers in September and October. If you prefer white, try the original autumn colchicum ‘Alboplenum’ with its double star-shaped flowers, which appear in October. To enhance the woodland effect, you can mix different colours of colchicums and add small ferns.

Dahlias

Known for their varied shapes and colours, dahlias provide a long flowering period from summer until the first frosts. These perennials are easy to grow as long as they have sunlight, warmth, and a rich, cool, well-drained substrate. As they are sensitive to frost, it is advisable to winter their tubers once temperatures drop below freezing. For your balcony, opt for compact varieties that can be grown in pots, such as dwarf dahlia ‘Topmix pink’ with its charming simple pink flowers and yellow centre, dwarf dahlia ‘Gallery Singer’ with its bright red pom-poms, or dwarf dahlia ‘Blue record’ with its unique and almost exotic shape. They will provide flowers from July to November.
For a slightly wild-looking pot, combine dahlias with gauras or grasses like Pennisetum or Stipa pennata, which will add a lovely touch of lightness.

Pansies

Thanks to their small size, wide range of colours, and variety, pansies are perfect biennials for planters. Moreover, they reward us with a long flowering period that lasts almost all year round. White, blue, red, purple, bicolour, with small or large flowers, they offer a great choice. With pansies, anything is possible, from the velvety black of horned violet ‘Sorbet Black Delight’ to the delicate lavender blue of pansy ‘Blue Moon’. They are perfect for the foreground in a pot or planter to add a splash of colour to your displays.

Cyclamens, autumn colchicum ‘Alboplenum’, dahlias, and pansies

Which plants with decorative foliage and fruits should you add?

To these flowers, it is tempting to add plants with decorative foliage and fruits that will bring beautiful shades of red, pink, orange, or variegated.

Ivy

What could be better than a bush of ivy cascading over the edge of your planter or pot to create a slightly wild, green atmosphere? For a bright touch, variegated ivy, such as Hedera helix ‘Little Diamond’, is perfect and adds elegance to the whole.

Heucheras

Another plant known for its highly decorative foliage, the heuchera, also called “painter’s despair,” showcases an incredible palette of colours, from yellow to black, including orange, red, purple, and green. You can pair it with flowers in autumn tones, such as celosia ‘Kelos Fire Red’ or kniphofias to create a harmonious blend of vibrant shades.

Gaultheria

Highly decorative with its round red, white, or pink berries that appear in autumn and winter, gaultheria is a bush that can be quite compact. This is the case with Gaultheria procumbens with red berries and the variety ‘Color Surprise’ with tricolour berries. It prefers an acidic substrate and can be paired with heathers.

Symphoricarpos

Another bush bearing decorative berries in autumn, the symphoricarpos is also known as the “pearl tree.” In autumn, it produces small berries resembling pearls, in white and pink. On a balcony, Chenault’s symphoricarpos or Symphoricarpos x chenaultii ‘Hancock’ adds a delicate touch with its small dark pink berries that look like little sweets. To be admired only, as they should not be ingested, even though they give a tempting look to your planters.

Carex

The carex are valuable allies for your pots and planters as they add vertical dimension and lightness to the display. These perennial plants also offer a wide variety of colours, green like Carex oshimensis ‘Evergreen’, coppery orange like Carex testacea ‘Prairie Fire’, and variegated like Carex oshimensis ‘Everest’.

Many other plants offer decorative interest for the balcony with their foliage or berries, such as skimmia, dwarf holly ‘Little Rascal’, nandina, or virgin vine. In autumn, it is also possible to create beautiful colourful atmospheres with small vegetables like cabbages and decorative peppers, or with shrubs that bloom in autumn, such as repeat flowering roses, hydrangeas, and autumn clematis.
In short, there is plenty of fun to be had in flowering your balcony in autumn!

Heucheras, gaultheria, ivy, symphoricarpos, and carex flagellifera ‘Bronzita’