Fall interest plants keep your garden working as the season winds down — through
leaves that turn red and gold, flowers that open in autumn, and berries that ripen
for winter. Start with the effect you want.
For fall color
Deciduous shrubs and trees that light up in October: oakleaf hydrangea, Virginia
sweetspire, fothergilla, smokebush, barberry, blueberry, and bald cypress.
For fall flowers
Color and pollinator food after summer fades: garden mums, reblooming Encore azaleas,
October Magic camellias, Mahonia, tea olive, sedum, and Japanese anemone.
For berries & winter interest
Fruit that feeds birds and carries the garden into winter: winterberry holly,
beautyberry, evergreen hollies, viburnum, and cotoneaster.
Solutions for What You're Planning
Refresh your planters
Swap spent summer annuals for garden mums, ornamental grasses, and compact sedum for instant fall color on the porch or patio.
Add fall interest to a shady spot
Oakleaf hydrangea, sweetspire, fothergilla, and camellias all deliver in part shade.
Work with a small space
Dwarf hydrangeas, compact hollies, and small grasses give you the season without the sprawl.
Screen a view year-round
Evergreen hollies provide privacy plus red winter berries; tall grasses make a fast, feathery hedge.
Support pollinators and birds
Pair late bloomers like mums, sedum, and goldenrod with berry shrubs like winterberry and beautyberry.
Keep color going into winter
Layer one plant from each group above so foliage, flowers, and berries peak in sequence.
What are the best plants for fall color?
For dependable red, orange, and gold foliage, try oakleaf hydrangea, Virginia sweetspire,
fothergilla, smokebush, barberry, blueberry, and bald cypress. Fall color varies by variety,
so check each plant's description.
What flowers bloom in the fall?
Garden mums, reblooming azaleas, sasanqua camellias, Mahonia, fragrant tea olive, sedum,
Japanese anemone, and goldenrod all bring color and feed pollinators late in the season.
Growing Zones: 4 to 8
