4 Colorful Flowers for Your Garden or Patio This Fall

Recently, we talked about succulent vegetables you can enjoy planting in your garden this approaching fall. Today, we are focusing on the flowering species that are best suited to the autumn season. The fall season is usually a vibrant one characterized by lots and lots of beautiful colors and an enjoyable ambiance. Whether you’re a seasoned gardening expert, an amateur gardener or on a more intermediate level, it’s time to bring autumn to your garden: make it dazzling and inviting with wonderful splashes of color!

If that’s not motivation enough, everyone knows that although the start (and a huge part) of the autumn season is usually beautiful and bright, that cherished vibrancy begins to fade as the season draws to a close and the frost begins to seep in. Planting these fall flowers in your garden would help to keep that vibrancy alive during the first few weeks of winter. 

To prepare your gardens for this planting season, do check out our post specifically dedicated to tips for fall garden preparation. Without further ado, here are 4 colorful flowers for your outdoor garden or for planting using containers in your patio:

• Asters

Be it pink, blue, white, or of the purple variety, asters embody the brilliance of autumn. Planting them in your garden would give you a dizzying range of striking colors: the more variety planted, the better! They enjoy full sunlight and thrive in well-drained soils. Capable of growing up to a height of 5 inches, these North-American natives are a must-have in your garden this fall.

Fun fact: Butterflies love the aster plant for the sheer beauty of its flowers and of course its sweet nectar. So, if you want to attract butterflies to your garden this autumn, go with aster or any of the other wonderful options in this post on butterfly-attracting plants.

• Mums

Mums are like the standard flowers of fall. Once autumn arrives, the popular combination of pumpkins and mums form the basis of decorating your patio or porch for the season. However, most varieties are not hardy and cannot withstand wintry conditions. 

Garden mums are, as their name implies, suited to outdoor gardening. Once planted, they gift you with rich autumn colors of orange, bronze, gold, or russet. Chrysanthemums are better planted in containers and positioned in strategic places in your patio. Once winter arrives, take them indoors to prolong their lifespan for a few more weeks. Hardy mums prove to be hardy in the outdoors only if you treat them right. Plant them as soon as possible and feed them generous quantities of water. In winter, mulch immediately the ground starts to freeze and you would enjoy the mums’ beautiful colors even during the cold season. 

• Goldenrods

Yellow stands for cheer, is used to denote the golden rays of sunlight and is the bright color of goldenrods. These 4-feet tall flowering plants are tough, beautiful and elegant: a perfect representation of fall. If you would like something not so tall, no worries. There are dwarf varieties of the goldenrod plant available. Usually, the goldenrod flower is usually the last one to bloom in any fall garden. But the wait is well worth it, as it adds vibrant splashes of color to your garden as the season draws to a close.  

Forget the erroneous claim that goldenrods are responsible for allergies, hay fever and other grievous sins against mankind. This “purty” flower is innocent of all such claims. Rather, it is a great butterfly magnet and an excellent addition to your fall garden.

• Pansies

If you come across any list of hardy fall plants, pansies would definitely rank very high on any such list. The reason is not so far behind: they live through fall and well into the middle of winter. The best variety out there (usually the most expensive) can even survive winter and bounce into spring. 

Pansies are also a perfect choice for container gardening and their vivid colors of pink, red, orange, yellow or purple make them a great option for decorating your pathway or patio borders. 

Other fall bloomers you can plant in your garden include marigolds, lantanas, lavender, cyclamen. This list, like I usually say in almost all my gardening posts, is not exhaustive. So, do not be restricted by these options. Be creative and let your garden (or patio) proclaim autumn’s beauty!