Falling for Fall—Perennial Beauties

I have a love/hate relationship with the fall season. I actually like the cooler weather, the back to school vibe and the bounty of the fall harvest. But as a gardener in Minnesota, it’s a rather sad time. The annuals are generally played out or perhaps dead (because someone forgot to water, oops!). Most fall gardening consists of cleaning up for next spring and cleaning in any context is my least favorite thing to do. What I’m left with is a fairly barren landscape that only gets bleaker as the snow arrives. And because our fall season is even shorter than our summer season, it’s always seemed there really wasn’t much I could do to improve my view. I threw in the towel gardening-wise, perhaps a bit prematurely and let nature take its mostly unattractive course.

I know I don’t generally talk perennials as container gardens are more my thing but I have to say that right now I am absolutely in love with my Autumn Joy sedum. I’ve come to this love late although Autumn Joy has been a popular perennial for years. My mother gave it to me after ripping it out from the front of her house. She despised it. As an herbaceous perennial with fall glory, location is everything with this plant. Plant it in the wrong place and what you have is a hole in your garden that will drive you crazy all summer, which is what happened with my mom. Surround it with spring and summer blooming plants that detract from it while it’s growing and you will be pleasantly surprised. Since my mother has moved her sedum to more appropriate place, she is learning to love it, too.

Another issue I’ve had with Autumn Joy sedum I’ve worked with in other gardens is that it can get leggy and floppy. I’ve had this problem with older plants but not the ones I planted just a couple of years ago. I can only guess that as the plant ages this is more of an issue. Cutting the plants back by half around the 4th of July will make the plant grow thicker and more able to hold up those dazzling flower heads in the fall.

Another fall perennial I adore is New England aster. Unfortunately, I’ve killed mine somehow. I think I accidentally pulled them up during spring clean up so I recommend cutting them down rather than pulling on dead foliage, no matter how easy it seems to come up. I kill so you don’t have to! Asters can also be pruned by half around July 4th to provide for a more compact habit and later bloom time although it’s not absolutely necessary.

Other perennials still blooming into the fall season include my burgundy Gaillardia, Veronica and Shasta daisy. Both the Veronica and the Shasta daisy were pruned during the midsummer due to ugliness and now are blooming for the second time. The blooms are less vigorous than earlier but I like the bonus flowers. And of course my Karl Foerster feather reed grass looks fantastic and will remain so through the winter. As much Karl Foerster as I see in landscapes I just never tire of this plant.

I love all these fall surprises. In many ways they are more rewarding than spring bloomers, not least of all for their unexpectedness. I will continue to seek out and plant more fall blooming perennials to balance out my landscape.