10 Apr Flowers For Your Garden In Autumn
These are my top 5 flowering plants for the garden in Autumn. All of which are suitable to pick and use as a cut flower.
Sedum “Autumn Joy” And Sedum “Matrona”
“Autumn Joy” has bright green foliage with green to cream buds opening to a bright pink before becoming even bolder and striking in colour to a coppery rusty red colour in mid Autumn. It will reach approximately 60cm in height x 50cm in width. “Matrona” has green foliage with purple mottling throughout and red brown stems. Its flowers are a bright pink which age to a claret colour. It will grow slightly bigger than “Autumn Joy” overall with a maximum height of 70cm. Both naturally form rounded mounds in the garden, being herbaceous they will die down in winter for a few months. Here in Young they start reshooting by late August. Both are extremely hardy and drought tolerant
Dahlias
WOW ! What a season it has been for the Dahlia. They are plants grown from tubers that are normally planted after the last frost in your garden. I planted ours quite late in the season (early December) and they have still been a stunner for our garden. They like a highly organic well draining soil with lots of sun. The range of flowers shapes, sizes and colours available are unbelievable. This is the first year I have grown Dahlias and I can honestly say I think I will be growing them for the rest of my life. I can’t think of any other plant I’ve grown that has given me so much pleasure and rewards you the gardener with armfuls of blooms for a number of months. Ours have been flowering since the end of February. We only planted twelve tubers.
Miscanthus transmorrisonenis
I guess this is not your most traditional flower but gosh they make a lovely feature in a vase and last for ages. Commonly called evergreen feather grass although I do love saying transmorrisonensis ! This evergreen ornamental grass is a lovely feature plant One of the beautiful features of any ornamental grass is the strong vertical linear form they add to the garden. This species in particular has that striking form. From mid to later Summer depending on the season this habit will be further enhanced by the gorgeous golden straw coloured flowers that have a slight pendulous shape. It is an evergreen grass however I do cut this back to ground level in Winter just so we have lovely fresh growth each spring. The foliage reaches about 1 metre in height with flowers spiraling out and above the level of the leaves. It is a large plant growing in width up to 1.6- 1.8 metres wide. It needs its horizontal space so give it plenty and that way you will be able to enjoy its habit all year. I love seeing this plant move in the wind, its foliage and feathery plume flowers wave about almost like they are dancing in the breeze. A plant that can bring together so many lovely characteristics with their flowers, form and movement is a good plant to grow.
Zinnias
These happy blooms have been another discovery for me this year. I have to admit bright vibrant colours are probably not my favourite tones for my own garden however they have been a real treat and will try them again next year. We planted them as seeds (direct sowed) in good well draining soil in a sunny location. There are so many varieties available and if you do prefer a more muted tones check out the varieties grown by Lambley Nursery or Diggers Nursery
Nerines or Spider Lily (Nerine bowdenii)
These are the Autumn flowering bulbs that you need in your garden. They are normally planted in summer when you plant your Liliums, Dahlias, Gladioli and Belladonnas. They like a sunny well draining position. Unlike so many bulbs they actually like a hot dry summer in fact you will get better blooms on your Nerines if it has been more drought like conditions. Their flowers pop up in early autumn on naked stems. The leaves follow after flowering. I have always found that they take a year or two to really settle in. In fact our clump was planted and then didn’t flower for three years. I had forgotten they were even there assuming the bulbs had rotted away when they just popped up after a particularly hot and dry summer. This year they have still flowered well despite our wet summer. Available in shades of pink, white and corals.
Japanese Wind flowers (Anemone hupehensis)
One of my favourite flowering perennials for this time of year is the Japanese Wind flower. They are best grown in a part shade location with protection from the hot western sun and hot winds. Growing drifts of these under trees is great spot for them. Available in shades of pink and white you can also purchase them in semi double or double flowering varieties. Their foliage will grow to about 0.5m in height x 1m wide. Their lovely flower stems can reach 1.2 m in height. When they are in full flower their gorgeous stems sway in the breeze adding a lovely whimsical woodland feel to the garden.
