When the calendar page turns to October it’s a gardener’s natural instinct to start thinking about fall chores and what needs to be done in the garden to prepare for winter. There is no doubt that fall is still a time filled with lots of color. With good reason most people associate fall colors with the changing of green leaves to red, orange and yellow but there are a lot of plants that are still flowering deep into the fall and even though it may be time to clean up the garden you still should take the time to enjoy the last blooms of the year.

Many annual flowers that you planted in the spring and summer continue to bloom into the fall. Annuals such as marigolds and gazanias will keep blooming even through some light frosts and I have verbena that continues to bloom even into November in my neck of the woods. The oranges and yellows of gazanias contrast nicely with blue verbena as well as complimenting the fall foliage display that is going on at this time of year and tender bulbs like cannas and dahlias will continue to bloom until frost knocks them out.

There are also later blooming perennials that could be a good addition to your garden that you may want to consider. Asters and chrysanthemums are two of the more popular fall perennials but sedum, also known in some areas of the country as stonecrop is another plant you may want to consider. It is green for most of the growing season but then in the fall the plant blooms with flowers that look like broccoli heads in shades of pink which is a color that is in short supply at this time of year. The flower heads are interesting to look at even after the plant stops blooming. Another perennial you may want to consider is solidago, also known as goldenrod. It is not a weed, nor does it cause hay fever but its yellow flowers start coming in late summer and it blooms all through the fall; just when you need an injection of color into a tired garden.

For rose lovers the fall can bring another round of possibly unexpected blooms. I live in USDA garden zone 7 and have had roses blooming in my garden until Thanksgiving and even early December before a good hard frost or freeze makes them call it quits. Finally, let’s not forget about pansies. Even though we plant them in the fall with spring in mind most of the time they put on a nice display of flowers for us throughout the fall. As you can see fall doesn’t necessarily mean the end of your growing season. For many flowers it may just be the beginning.

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