The trick to having a wonderful fall garden is knowing your plants. Learning when plants bloom, and for how long.

Flowers like Irises, Allium, Bleeding Hearts, and Poppies only bloom for a short while, then they are done for the year. Those are all spring/early summer plants, but the fall has some too.

Like the Toad Lilies. These guys are nothing but leaves until September (and sometimes October, depending on their light conditions). But then bam – those cooler nights hit and they start popping out small speckled blooms all over the place.

These guys are all in the Catio, but they’ve multiplied like crazy. Next spring, I’m going to move half of them to the Woodland garden.

I planted another type of Toad Lily in Willow Grove this spring, but I probably won’t see blooms on it until next year.

The Asters could be lumped in with the other “seasonal bloomers”. Like the Toad Lilies, they don’t start blooming until after the new School year starts.

But where the Toad Lilies will slowly fizzle out, these guys will keep blooming until the frost gets them – which here could be any time in October or November – it’s really unpredicatable.

On the left is my New England Aster – a native plant. The right is a new pink Aster I picked up from the garden centre last week…. because we all know I have a serious plant addition and even autumn won’t stop me from collecting new plants.

But back to plant lesson…

There are of course, the fall standards…

Autumn Joy sedum, which the bees just love

The Black-Eyed Susan and Purple Coneflower. Both of these really get going in August.

But Coneflowers come in a variety of colours and styles, with many blooming both summer AND fall

These are just two of my collection – I also have white, yellow, a couple differing pinks, and even green!

And lets not forget the native coneflowers

Like their cousins, they start flowering mid summer and just keep going.

And the varieties of Susans are always pleasing too.

These ones are called Cherry Brandy and they seeded themselves all over the place last year. I’ve moved quite a few to other gardens, bringing colour to every corner.

Deadheading is another good way to keep some plants flowering through the fall.

Cosmos are a wonderful example. Lop the seedheads off often, and these guys will keep going until the frost takes them down.

And don’t neglect your annuals

Dahlias, Gerberas and Petunia love the cooler nights and warm fall days. I find the Petunias are usually spectacular by September because they’ve had all summer to spread out and grow! (All of these can benefit from deadheading too)

But the fall garden can often bring suprises

Like daisies that decided to rebloom. I can tell you this is the first year I’ve ever had that happen. They are normally an early summer bloomer and then that’s it! I did give them a big chop mid-summer to tidy them up. I do that with the Delphiniums, and that makes them rebloom – so maybe it’s the same for the daisies?

And I always understood that clematis have one bloom season (some are spring, some are fall)

But this purple clematis has been blooming on and off all year since late May!

And this Red (orange) Hot Poker was a nice late-comer

I planted five of these throughout the gardens, and only this one has grown and bloomed.

There’s something wonderful for everyone to enjoy in a fall garden if you plan it, and plant it right!