Flowering the Garden in Autumn

After the lull in flowering during the height of summer, gardens often regain beautiful floral scenes in late summer. To prolong the pleasure into late autumn, depending on the arrival of the first frosts, you can plant perennial plants, bulbs, and bushes that bloom late in the season.

Often overlooked: bulbs that bloom in autumn

Autumn-flowering bulbous plants are too often ignored by gardeners, who tend to plant in autumn for spring blooms. It would be a shame not to enjoy these lovely late-flowering bulbs, as they are quite easy to grow.

Among them, we particularly love:

• Autumn Crocus: Discover the true saffron, Crocus sativus, with mauve flowers veined in violet and orange stigmas, or try, in full sun and very well-drained soil, Crocus cartwrightianus albus, with white flowers sometimes lasting until December.
• Sternbergia lutea: It blooms like a large crocus with bright yellow flowers in September-October.
• Colchicum: With their large flowers devoid of foliage (which wilts in summer), they punctuate the foreground of a flowerbed or lawn with their white, pink, and almost mauve flowers.
• Autumn Flowering > Cyclamens or Naples cyclamen: To naturalise in partial shade, this small cyclamen gradually forms a carpet of marbled silver foliage dominated by its white or pink flowers from late summer to autumn.
• Nerine: Planted against a warm wall or grown in pots to escape severe frosts, nerines display their large trumpet-shaped flowers in white or pink umbels in October-November.

The dahlias, stars of autumn

These are, of course, must-haves for the autumn garden, which will never disappoint if planted in full sun, in deep, fertile, well-enriched soil. Choose from the vast palette of colours, flower shapes, and plant sizes. They easily blend among perennials and create beautiful scenes with soft-stemmed grasses. Planted in spring, they bloom in late summer; planted in early summer, they bloom throughout autumn.

Generous perennials in late season

Among these, look for the latest species and varieties, such as Sedum ‘Herbstfreude’ or ‘Ruby Glow’, or among asters, besides the large autumn asters, the airy blooms of Aster laterifolius and its varieties.

Also consider hardy geraniums, some of which are tireless in autumn, like ‘Rozanne’ with its bright violet flowers, the varieties of Geranium pratense, or G. endressii.

Also to discover is the toad lily or orchid lily, Tricyrtis hirta, a little-known rhizomatous perennial, yet precious for its elegant flowering from August to October, with white flowers speckled with garnet, to be planted in shade and in rich, humus-rich soil. The Kaffir lily, Schizostylis coccinea, which should be protected from severe frosts and winter moisture, is another rhizomatous perennial with generous autumn flowering, featuring spikes of bright star-shaped flowers in white, pink, and red.

Grasses for contrast, flexibility, and soft hues

Our favourites for autumn:

• Stipa arundinacea with green and orange foliage, and purple and silver spikelets in autumn,
• Varieties of Panicum virgatum, with light and colourful plumes in autumn, often accompanied by beautiful autumn foliage colour. You can choose between shades of blonde, purple, brown…
• The tall miscanthus structure autumn scenes with their tall upright tufts, reaching nearly 2 m, with their light pink-silver to purple inflorescences and their blonde to brown foliage.
• The pennisetums with a soft habit, whose light feathery blooms last from summer to autumn and whose foliage takes on warm and soft tones.
• Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ whose spreading tufts of variegated golden foliage turn red in autumn, accompanied by reddish spikelets.
• Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron’ whose leaves become increasingly red as the season progresses, crimson in autumn with a light silver bloom.

Some late-flowering shrubs

Late-flowering shrubs are quite rare, except for the repeat-flowering roses of which some may bloom as late as Christmas when autumn is mild, such as the climbing rose ‘Phyllis Bide’.

If you love blue flowers, don’t wait to plant a caryopteris, blooming between mid-August and October in clusters of small bright blue-violet flowers, on grey-green foliage. Pair it, for example, with the tireless gaura and white-flowering Japanese anemones.

To complete the colourful effects in autumn

Compose varied and colourful scenes by combining these autumn blooms with fiery foliage (oak-leaved hydrangea, Virginia creeper, smoke bush, sumac, maples…) and decorative fruits (numerous among shrubs, pyracantha, cotoneaster, callicarpa, rowan, European spindle…)