By late July, most perennial gardens are past their prime and look pretty dull for the rest of the season. Fortunately, there are many perennials that bloom in late summer, including coneflower, asters, mums, Russian sage, cimicifuga, sedum, rudbeckia, and phlox.
Late summer is a wonderful time to visit the Garden. Enjoy some highlights including roses, hibiscus, daylilies, gardenias, sacred lotus and many more favorites.
For this Blooming Period, we're highlighting some late summer/fall favorites: callas; China asters; lisianthus; perennial sunflowers; and zinnias.
Late Summer – Early Fall (think September 1-15) is an optimal grass management time for lawns. As the days start to lengthen and cool, grass begins to wake up at the end of the summer dormant and root shedding period.
Autumn is a great season for annuals, perennials and evergreen shrubs to shine. In fact, some of the most popular flowers, like colorful mums, roses, dahlias, purple pansies and yes, even bright yellow sunflowers all bloom around September and October.
September has two birth month flowers, the morning glory and the aster. Which means another pretty flower to add to your bouquet. Yay! Asters are wonderfully vibrant wildflowers, ranging from white and red to pink and yellow.
The good thing is that you actually have options, because August has two birth flowers: the gladiolus and the poppy. Both are beautiful blooms with unique characteristics and interesting meanings.
August: gladiolus and poppy
The August birth flowers are gladiolus and poppy. Available in a rainbow of gorgeous colours, these blooms are understandably very popular in the late summer months. In fact, every colour of poppy has a different meaning but in general, poppies symbolise imagination.
Larkspur, or delphinium, is the flower associated with July, blooming just in time for those summer babies to enjoy each year.
We can't think of anything better than fall flowers. From marigolds to coral bells (aka heuchera), standby blooms like chrysanthemums and pansies, and so many more, what's not to love? Hardy fall flowers allow you to fill your garden with color even as the nights get chilly and your favorite summer flowers fade away.
October has two birth flowers: the Marigold and Cosmos. Both stems prosper during the summer and fall and have rich legacies in history, gardening, and folk medicine. The first October birth flower is the cosmo.
For green interest, plant dusty miller and ornamental peppers, cabbage, and kale. Additional annuals to explore include angelonia, begonia, coleus, lantana, calibrachoa, cosmos, globe amaranth, impatiens, lobelia, marigold, petunia, spider flower, sunflower, and zinnia.
Pansies. Remarkable as a winter plant, Pansies can survive freezing coldness and can thrive vigorously when summer returns. Its “smiling face” flowers are vibrant in color and fragrance that can fill up your space with so much joy.
spring runs from March 1 to May 31; summer runs from June 1 to August 31; fall (autumn) runs from September 1 to November 30; and. winter runs from December 1 to February 28 (February 29 in a leap year).
“Indian summer” is a phrase most North Americans use to describe an unseasonably warm and sunny patch of weather during autumn. Weather Historian William R Deedler, of the National Weather Service, describes it as “any spell of warm, quiet, hazy weather that may occur in October or even early November”.
The seasons are defined as spring (March, April, May), summer (June, July, August), autumn (September, October, November) and winter (December, January, February).
It's time for planting fall color, such as mums and asters, as well as sprucing up planter boxes. You also may be surprised to learn that it's the best time of year to plant perennials and shrubs (trees, too!) while plants still have an opportunity to establish their root systems before the ground freezes.