It is always nice to incorporate fall perennials into your landscape so you can maintain texture and color in your garden as the temperature drops, the days get shorter and your summer flowers are no more. This fall at Painters we will have a lovely selection of perennials for your fall and winter gardens including grasses, heuchera, groundcovers, and some of our favorite fall bloomers.

FALL BLOOMING PERENNIALS

'Samurai' Toad lily

Toad lily, Tricyrtis

Varieties: Samurai, Sinonome

People are often amazed to learn that this plant with stunning orchid-like flowers is a perennial that blooms in the heat of August through the fall, and is a great addition to any shade garden. They're also a great source of late-summer nectar for hummingbirds and butterflies.

'Henry Blue' Asters

Hardy Aster, Symphyotrichum

Varieties: Purple Dome, Winston Churchill, Woods Blue, Hazy Dark Pink, Henry Blue

Native

Like Hardy Mums these plants flower in response to shortening days. These quick growing perennials are loved by people and pollinators alike and will continue to impress for years to come. Tip: We love purple or blue asters, like Purple Dome, in combination with ornamental kale. The colors play off each other beautifully long into the fall.

'Sheffield Pink' Hardy Mum

Hardy Mum, Crysanthemum

Varieties: Hillside Pink Sheffield, Yellow Quill, Cambodian Queen, Brandywine Sunset

These perennials have a beautiful mounding habit and bloom from late summer through fall when many flowers have faded. Tip: pinch back the tips and flower buds on all shoots in the summer to make the plant bushier and have more blooms in the fall!

Helenium 'Mariachi Salsa'

Hellenium, Helenium autumnale

Varieties: Mariachi Salsa, Mariachia Fuego

Valued for their late summer display of bright daisy-like flowers that arrive when most summer flowering perennials are on the decline, these also attract and support butterflies and other pollinators.

FOLIAGE

Ferns and heuchera are two of our favorite ways to add interest to a shady spot in your yard. There are so many textures, colors, and shapes to choose from! You can also try putting them in porch pots for all-season interest; while typically more shade loving, they can handle some sun in the cooler months.

Autumn Fern

Autumn Fern, Dryopteris erythrosora

Japanese Painted Fern Frond

Japanese Painted Fern, Athyrium niponicum

Assorted Heuchera

Heuchera, Heuchera

Varieties: Multiple varieties in many colors

GROUNDCOVERS

Assorted sedum growing in our greenhouse

Sedum, Sedum

Varieties: Many varieties of creeping & upright, including Autumn Joy

Sedum are great for filling in cracks in walkways as well as hilly and rocky areas. Autumn Joy Sedum is one of our favorite ways to add great fall interest and happens to be excellent support for late-season pollinators - the blooms are truly lovely, and a mature plant makes quite the statement when planted in groupings.

Lamium 'White Nancy' (Photo: Gardenia.net)

Lamium, Lamium maculatum

Varieties: Orchid Frost, White Nancy

This semi-evergreen groundcover with silvery leaves is a great way to add texture and color to shady or semi-shady spots in your yard.

Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'

Ajuga, Ajuga reptans

Varieties: Burgundy Glow, Chocolate Chip, Mahogany, Caitlyn's Giant

A wonderful spreader that makes for a colorful groundcover with purple blooms arriving in mid-late spring. Also mostly evergreen which is a nice touch!

GRASSES

Pink Muhly Grass, Muhlenbergia capillaris

Native

Low maintenance and beautiful, this ornamental grass turns into a floating cloud of cotton candy every fall! Truly stunning when the late afternoon sun hits the seedheads!

Little Bluestem (Photo: Grownative.org)

Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium

Native

Little Bluestem is easy to grow - being humidity, heat, and drought tolerant - and offering a long season of interest. We will be offering them in smaller pots to provide a more affordable way to incorporate native grasses in your garden this fall.

Variegated Sweet Flag (Photo: Gardenia.net)

Variegated Sweet Flag, Acorus calamus

Native cultivar

Ideal for wetter areas, this evergreen perennial is a great addition to containers, in water gardens, around ponds, and more! We love using it in year-round porch pots!

To discover all the plants available during our Fall Season visit our Plant Availability List and our Tree & Shrub Availability List.