Flowers, Veggies, and Laying the Groundwork for Spring

As the leaves start to fall and summer blooms begin to fade, it’s important to remember that autumn is known as the harvest season for a reason! The end of summer does not mean the end of your garden. Here’s some inspiration to keep your green thumb going into the cooler months with these colorful fall blooms and delicious edible plants.

Fall Perennials

With a little bit of planning, fall perennials will come back beautiful and vibrant year after year. Here are some favorites!

• Autumn Crocus: Plant in late summer for a bloom early next fall. Autumn crocuses do best in full sun and blossom into pretty pink, lavender, and white flowers.
• New York Aster/Michaelmas Daisy: These deer resistant flowers can grow in clay soil and bloom in late summer, lasting until the first frost.
• Strawflower: Blooming in yellows, oranges, and reds, strawflowers provide the perfect color scheme for a fall garden. They also retain their shape and color after they are dried, so they can be preserved and used inside the home at the end of the season
• Chrysanthemum: Probably the most popular fall bloom, mums can be planted in the spring for buds to sprout in the next 6 to 10 weeks. They thrive in full sun, well watered soil, and with some mulch insulation when cold weather hits.

Fall Annuals

Freshen up your flower pots and garden beds with these beautiful fall annuals!

• Marigold: With some maintenance, marigolds can stay in bloom from late spring all the way through the fall, giving your garden some orange-y seasonal color. 
• Ornamental (Flowering) Kale: Not to be confused with the variety of kale you’d find in a grocery store, ornamental kale has a unique colorful bloom. Plant in the spring or fall, as long as the temperature is below 10 degrees C. 
• Sunflower: These large, attention-grabbing flowers bloom between midsummer and the first frost. Harvest the seeds for replanting or a tasty snack!
• Pansies: Pansies are fast-growing, colorful, and long-lasting. They thrive in partial shade and in containers or garden beds.

Edible Fall Plants

For a bountiful fall, filled with seasonal and nutritious meals, try your hand at growing these tasty garden veggies.

• Root Vegetables: The cooler fall temperatures can give root vegetables like carrots, beets, and radishes a sweeter flavor as the starches break down into sugar. 
• Winter squash: Many varieties of winter squash can be harvested in the early fall, including butternut squash, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, and (of course) pumpkins! 
• Leafy Greens: Leafy greens like kale, collard greens, spinach, cabbage, and swiss chard can be both edible and ornamental, making a nice, leafy addition to garden beds and planters.
• Hardy herbs: Herbs like rosemary, sage, parsley, and thyme are pretty resilient in the fall weather, and do especially well in regions with milder winters. Use them to add flavor to any dish using the edible plants listed above!

Prepare for Spring

Fall is also your opportunity to lay the groundwork for your spring garden! Bulbs, like tulips, daffodils, irises, and crocus, need to be planted before the ground freezes for winter. When spring comes, and all your colorful flowers start popping up, you’ll be glad you put in the work ahead of time!

Your Fall Lawn Care

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