Home Autumn plants

Autumn plants

30+ colourful performers from September to November

Most of our gardens need more interest and colour from September to November, so here’s my pick of the best autumn plants. Of all the seasons, autumn is the one most forgotten, so plan for a perfect Indian summer. If you love a fiery colour palette, Halloween, hearty soups and appreciating weather and plants changing daily, autumn is for you.

Forget about just flowers – leaves, seed heads and fruit make a perfect tapestry at this time of year. Timing is VERY arbitrary and totally based on the weather. Wind, excess wet or dryness, or frost, will all hasten their demise. Enjoy it while you can! I’ve included plant types: HB (hardy biennial); HP (hardy perennial); HS (hardy shrub); HT (hardy tree); HC (hardy climber); HHP (half-hardy perennial), and height in metres.

Autumn plants
Rosa glauca hips

Leaves, berries and flowers

  • Acanthus mollis (bear’s breeches): flowers and seed spikes, huge glossy leaves, mid-Sept-Nov. HP, 1-1.5m.
  • Acer Trompenburg: the 7-lobed leaves have recurved margins, deep red-purple in spring, greener in summer, and orange-red in autumn, HS/T, 2.5-4m.
  • Arum marmoratum Italicum (Italian arum): new variegated leaves/berries mid-Sept onwards. HP, 35cm.
  • Berberis thunbergii atropurpureum (purple barberry): purple leaves turn red, Oct-Nov. HS, 2m.
  • Blackberry Loch Maree: fabulous leaf colour, red and black berries, Sept-Nov. HC, 2m.

Autumn plants – Tropical foliage until frosts

  • Canna indica (Indian shot): leaves and flowers mid-Sept to the first frost. HHP, 2m+.
  • Cornus (dogwood): leaf colour Oct; stems through winter. HS/HT, 2-8m (less with pruning).
  • Cotinus coggygria (smoke bush): leaf colour mid-Sept-Nov. HS, 5m (less with pruning).
  • Cotoneaster horizontalis: berries until winter. HS, 1m x 2m.
  • Cynara cardunculus (cardoon): flowers/dried seed heads/huge leaves until winter. HP, 2.5m.

Stunning dried flower heads

  • Cynara scolymus (globe artichoke): flower heads and leaves mid-Sept-Nov. HP, 2m.
  • Dahlia: leaves and flowers mid-Sept to the first frost. HHP, 40cm-1.5m.
  • Dipsacus follonum (native teasel): seed heads mid-Sept-Nov. HB/HP, 1.5-2.5m.
  • Echinacea (coneflower): flowers mid-Sept-Oct. HP, 1-1.5m.
  • Euphorbia (hardy herbaceous/shrubby spurge varieties): leaf colour/flowers, depending on variety, mid-Sept-Nov. HP/HS, 15cm-1.5m.
Late summer flowering perennials
Rudbeckia Goldsturm

Autumn plants – Changing hedge colour

  • Fagus (beech): leaf colour Oct-Nov. HT, up to 50m (not as a hedge – 3m!)
  • Fatsia japonica (Japanese Aralia): flowers and leaves mid-Sept-Nov; flowers Nov. HS, 2.5-4m.
  • Foeniculum vulgare purpureum (bronze fennel): flowers/seed heads/foliage mid-Sept-Nov. HB/HP, 1.8m.
  • Fuchsia Hawkshead: white flowers mid-Sept-Nov; leaf colour. HS, 0.5-1m.
  • Hedera (ivy): flowers October-Nov (only upward-growing stems). HC, 30m+ – responds to pruning.

Perennial sunflower

  • Helianthus Lemon Queen (perennial sunflower): flowers mid-Sept-late Oct; foliage colour. HP, 2m.
  • Humulus lupulus Aureus (golden hop): leaf colour/hops mid Sept-end Oct. HC, 4-8m.
  • Jasminum officinale Clotted Cream: (jasmine): leaf colour October. HC (may need winter protection in exposed sites), 3m.
  • Kniphofia (red-hot poker, torch lily): K. uvaria Nobilis flowers mid-Sept-Oct; foliage evergreen. HP, 1.5m+.
  • Leucanthemum x superbum Aglaia (Shasta daisy): flowers until Nov. HP, 0.5-1m.

Autumn plants – Decorative seed heads

  • Ligularia The Rocket: seed heads mid-Sept-Oct. HP, 1m.
  • Malus (crab apple): fruit mid-Sept-Nov; leaf colour. HT, 3m+.
  • Prunus (flowering cherry): purple varieties leaf colour late Oct-Nov. HT, 2m+.
  • Pyracantha (firethorn): berries mid-Sept-Nov. HS, 2m+.
  • Rodgersia: leaf colour mid-Sept-Oct. HP, 1m+.
The best small Acer
Acer shirasawanum Jordan in October

Rose foliage

  • Rosa glauca (blue-leaved or red-leaved rose): leaf colour/hips mid-Sept-Nov. HS, 1.5-2.5m.
  • Rhus typhina (stag’s horn sumach): leaf colour mid-Sept-Oct. HS/HT, 6m.
  • Rudbeckia (coneflowers): flowers mid-Sept-Oct. HP, 50cm-1m.
  • Sedum (stonecrop): flowers Sept-Oct; leaf colour Oct-Nov. HP, 5cm-75cm.
  • Sempervivum (hens and chicks, houseleeks): rosette colour mid-Sept-Nov. HP, up to 10cm.
  • Spiraea japonica Goldflame: leaf colour mid-Oct-Nov. HS, 75cm.
  • Stipa gigantea (giant oat grass): seed heads until winter. HP, 2.5m.

Visit Thorp Perrow Arboretum, Bedale, North Yorkshire, for excellent autumn colour – read my review.