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The Art of Gardening
Bulbs and Seeds
Perennials

Late to the Party… but What an Entrance!

	Cyclamen hederifolium

While fall is a wonderful time to take stock of your garden, to move, divide, and evaluate options for future plantings, it’s also prime time for the season’s late bloomers. Fashionably late to the blooming party, autumn flowers put on some of a garden’s most dramatic shows, and they are critical to a well-rounded garden design.

Crocosmia

Planning for late bloomers prolongs a garden’s delight. Start in the spring, though, with bulbs. Excellent choices include dahlias with their range of colors and flower sizes, and Crocosmia with its color-saturated arching flower spikes. Consider Eucomis bicolor (pineapple lily) with its exotic flowering cylinders and sculptural leaves. Fall-blooming Cyclamen hederifolium adapts to both semi-shady and sunny locations, and its silver-patterned foliage provides an elegant backdrop to delicate-looking but surprisingly tough flowers.

	Rudbeckia

Some of the garden’s most reliable and long-lasting flowers bloom late. Rudbeckia (black-eyed susan) seems to store all of the sun’s rays and then explode in an impressive show late in the summer and into fall. Echinacea (coneflower) now comes in a wide variety of colors, and its happy face seems to light up the garden as other plants lose steam. Don’t rush to cut back on the spent flowers, either! The seedheads will grace the winter garden.

Echinacea 'White Swan'

Sunny personalities seem to dominate the late bloomers. If you’re looking for profuse bloomers, look no further than Helenium (sneezeweed). Contrary to its name, it won’t provoke your allergies, but it will provide a stunning color punch right through to frost. Coreopsis is another sunny charmer with flirtatious foliage and adorable flower faces. The tiered, orange flowers of Leonotis add vertical spikes to the late-summer garden; left uncut, they provide structural interest through the winter.

	Phygelius

Most of the Salvia genus are reliable, long-season bloomers but pineapple sage, with its pineapple-scented, lime green leaves and delicate scarlet flowers, is just coming into its glory when the rest of the garden is going to bed. An excellent tender perennial in its own right, it can be used for culinary purposes and to light up the darkening days. It also feeds Anna’s hummingbirds!

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

True to its name, Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ waits for its late-season moment. Drought tolerant and vigorous, its gorgeous leathery foliage is topped with dark pink flower crowns. Sedum ‘Matrona’ puts on a long-blooming show of soft pink flowers, while Sedum telephium ‘Atropurpureum’ provides striking foliage contrast and delicate pink blooms. The fruiting heads of the sedums are a boon to the winter garden.

	Leonotis

Needless to say, the list of excellent late-season perennials is way too long for this space. (Did I mention hardy fuchsias and Phygelius?) Just because the summer party is almost over doesn’t mean that the last to come aren’t among the most spectacular guests!

By Megan Bonner
Skylights Fall 2010, Vol 25, No. 3

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