I’m sure you can feel the colder morning air; the long days of summer are finally behind us. Most people think spring is the peak gardening season, and while that may be true for preexisting plantings, let me let you in on a secret: fall is actually the golden time to plant things in the ground. Not just for trees, shrubs, and perennials, but cool-season vegetables just age better going into colder months. For us in zone 7, the annual flowers like violas and pansies last through the cold and provide color longer than warm-season flowers can. Deep underground, it is still warm from the long summer; the air is getting cooler, and this helps plants get established with less transplant shock.
Building a breathtaking autumn landscape color isn’t just about temporary flowers. Think about layered textures, evergreen backdrops, and finding out which plants actually improve when temperatures drop.
Structure Evergreens
Think of your garden like a great theatrical stage: before you bring out the colorful actors, you need a balanced backdrop.
- Nellie Stevens Holly & Green Giant Arborvitae: These are your tall anchors. Nellie Stevens brings glossy, rich green leaves year-round, and bright red winter berries that birds desperately need to survive, while Green Giants create a towering, emerald privacy screen and windbreak.
- The Blindspot: Spacing neglect. A tiny ‘Green Giant’ in a 3-gallon pot looks rather small, but it can soon become a giant 40-foot tree. Plant it at least 7 to 9 feet away from fences and structures, or you’ll be wrestling with it for years down the road.
Colorful Foliage
Color doesn’t just come from petals; foliage can make some amazing changes year-round.
- Loropetalum (‘Crimson Fire’): If you want dark burgundy and ruby foliage that holds its colorful leaves even when other trees drop their leaves, this dwarf Chinese fringe flower is very popular. It stays close to the ground and provides deep, red wine-colored contrast to many lighter-colored trees and shrubs.
- Soft Touch Holly & Golden Soft Touch: Need neat, mounding texture without prickly spines? ‘Soft Touch’ offers soft, dark green globes, while ‘Golden Soft Touch’ brings warm yellow-lime highlights that seem to glow against darker shrubs.
- Liriope (Monkey Grass): The ultimate border plant. In early autumn, its grass-like tufts produce spikes of violet blossoms followed by sleek black berries, neatly framing your beds.
Ground Covers & Cold Colors
Now come the plants that provide interesting growth during cooler months even closer to the ground.
- Blue Rug Juniper: This is often used for soil erosion prevention, spilling over retaining walls, or stony paths, this low-growing conifer shifts from a light blue-green color in summer to a subtle darker color in colder weather.
- Garden Mums (Chrysanthemums): The classic autumn flower. They grow an explosion of blooms in white, orange, reds, yellows, and burgundy.
- Flowering Kale & Cabbage: As nights get colder, ornamental kale gets more intense! Frost triggers pigments called anthocyanins, turning ruffled centers into bright purple or white rosettes. Hello, ‘foodscaping’.
- Pansies & Violas: Violas and pansies are cold-weather champions. They will stay strong through frost and light snowfalls. They bounce back on sunny winter afternoons, self-seed, and keep blooming straight through spring until the heat comes back.
The Big Fall Mistake
The single biggest trap gardeners fall into during fall is watering complacency.
Because the air feels cool, many people assume newly installed fall plants don’t need water. Cold air is sometimes very dry, actually, and the wind can quickly dry things out. Root systems are actively establishing themselves underground before winter dormancy. A deep weekly soaking until the first hard freeze is critical; dry roots freeze far faster and suffer severe winter burn compared to well-hydrated ones.