Ah, the weather has cooled, the leaves are turning brilliant hues of crimson, maize and pumpkin and life is good, more or less. When you look at your own garden does it resemble that mud pie your kids made in the last rain storm? Shades of brown, tan, and beige…essentially the same shade! Are you scratching your head wondering why the trees are the only flora that seem to be worth viewing and frankly it is giving you a neck ache? Where is the punch, the color, the oomph that you slaved away for throughout the spring and summer? Don’t throw in your gardening gloves and start to put the yard to rest just yet; this is a magical time for color and spark. You just need a dose of advice and a little imagination!

The ideal garden is a multi-seasonal one, this can be problematic for many as spring seems to be the predominant time to hit the nurseries and buy the entire stockpile of glorious flora in bloom, leaving many outdoor oases lacking in the late summer and autumn. But now is an inspirational time to peruse the nurseries as well and the plants that put on an autumn show are a plenty. Try layering your beds and borders with continuous interest, many late-season bloomers don’t look too great in the spring and vice versa. So, try having spring showstoppers, like Shasta Daisies situated near autumn Sedums, then mix in a tall phlox to billow over the empty void created by the spent Shasta Daisies. Plan for every season by investing in some “anchor” plants – these are flora of constant interest like an evergreen or winterberry, possibly an ornamental tree. One of the best ways to produce a stunning fall display is with dramatic color and texture contrasts, like Virgina Sweetspire’s bright red color near a yellow leafed tree or the bold foliage of an Oakleaf Hydrangea paired next to a willow amsonia, the pairings are endless if you think for every season.

Amy Albright, owner of Vinland Valley Nursery, has been busy preparing for the autumn, in fact she starts thinking about the fall flora a year in advance, she says, “I’ve spent the summer collecting and planting new woody plants for this fall and next spring, you have to experiment. Fall is an excellent time to see plants in their autumn colors, making it easier to select the best placement of scarlets, purples, oranges and yellow foliages throughout your landscape. It’s also a great time to find places that can be punctuated with evergreen trees, shrubs and groundcovers to extend the beauty of a garden into the winter months.”

The bevy of gorgeous fall bloomers has grown with new varieties, like the Knock Out Roses, which are flowering spring until frost. The Knock Out’s are a great “anchor” plant. In Albright’s opinion every Kansas garden and really every garden anywhere needs a couple of key focal points, she states, “Every garden needs someplace for a small ornamental tree of some sort. No matter the size of the yard, it’s nice to create a smaller scale setting with a beautiful little tree surrounded with complimentary plantings. Japanese Maples are more commonly used, but there are some more unusual choices, including a dwarf ginko called ‘Chi Chi’, a weeping redbud, a dwarf elm named ‘Yatsubusa’ and a wonderful dwarf Japanese Emperor Oak.”

Amy Albright and Jozie Schimke, owner of Earth Flowers, sat down and compiled a list of flora they believe will add that extra color and punctuation mark we gardeners want our autumn landscapes to possess. We long for that certain traffic-stopping shrub that vies with the colorful maple trees above keeping our eyes closer to the earth and lessening the likelihood of a sprained neck, all the while creating an outdoor haven in many more colors than merely brown.

• Seven-son flower – is a large shrub with green foliage persisting into November, with creamy white, fragrant flower panicles late summer into October. Long-lasting blooms age to a showy, reddish-pink in October and November.
• Witchhazel – is a late winter to very early spring blooming large shrub. Fragrant blooms of yellow or red, depending on the cultivar, cover the stems before new foliage emerges in spring. Fantastic looking when under planted with evergreen groundcover.
• Sedums – ‘Autumn Fire’ and ‘Purple Emperor’, ‘Purple Emperor’ has dark leaves with pink flowers.
• Knock Out Roses – These babies bloom and bloom and need almost no care.
• Plumbago – A beautiful groundcover that has gorgeous blue flowers all summer, in the autumn its leaves turn a lovely red.
• Asters – the Wood’s varieties are outstanding 12-18” tall and a blast of refreshing color in the fall. There are short asters, ‘Professor Kippenburg’, ‘Purple Dome’. The short ones are best in gardens here as they don’t suffer from drought in the summer like the tall varieties.
• Coral bark Japanese Maple – with its neon orange trunk and stems makes for a fantastic show when planted in the front of evergreens or a complimentary painted surface.
• Curly Willow & Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick – are both famous for their twisting branches, which make excellent cut flower arrangements as well as being a landscape design asset during drab days.
• Sumac – ‘Staghorn Sumac’ turns an astonishing red color; ‘Tiger Eye’ is a new dwarf that has a beautiful autumn show as well.
• Helianthus ‘First Light’ – This is a late blooming sunflower. It grows about 3-4’ tall and looks like wands totally covered with small yellow sunflowers. Sometimes it blooms even after the first frost.
• Spireas – ‘Petit Bleu’ is a dwarf and ‘Tor’ is of normal-sized shrub with white-flowers until fall when it then turns red.
• Switchgrass – ‘Prairie Sky’ grows about 5’ tall but has flowers above and with in the blue foliage, it is a very unique effect. The flowers are delicate and airy.

Albright has one more suggestion for a fall task that will reap the benefits in the spring, she says, “Together with daffodils and crocus, pussy willows are the plants that make me glad in the spring! Black pussy willow is an interesting color variation, with deep red stems and jet black catkins. My spring self always thanks my fall self for having the foresight!” So, add a little spice to your autumn landscape bring the color from the treetops down to your beds and borders and enjoy the many splendors of a Kansas fall.