As summer starts winding down and the weather starts to cool, it’s time for another round of new landscaping additions for your green thumb to work with this fall. Here are some colorful flowers you can plant now to enhance the fall beauty of your Nashville landscaping this autumn, and some tips for making the most of your efforts.
Preparing For Fall
One of the best ways to ensure you get the most from your garden this fall is to have it cleaned up and ready before it’s too late. Toward the end of August and into September, you may notice some of your summer blooms aren’t faring that well. This is natural. Before you can get to planting anything new, you can give your garden bed a refresh by pruning your flowers or removing dying annuals like sunflowers or petunias. It’s also a good time to cut back on perennials that are going into rest mode as the summer comes to a close. You don’t need to remove them completely, but taking off deadheads and even cutting the flower back safely with pruning scissors can help clear the way.
Rather than throwing these plants away, incorporate them into your compost and use the fertilizer later on. Landscaping in Nashville is a constant fight with the extreme variations in moisture we see depending on the season, so it’s important to make sure your garden bed manages water well. Use the cooling weather as an opportunity to work on your garden, refreshing mulch and removing weeds so that you can start planting all over again.
Now that you’re well prepared for late summer planting, it’s time to explore your best options.
Autumnal Floral Ideas for Late Summer Planting
There are many ways to give your garden a pop of color in the early fall, but you need to start preparing right now. Late summer in Nashville is still quite hot, but we tend to see a bit more precipitation in August and September, making it prime time for adding new flowers to the garden. Whether you’re new to the area or you’ve been here for decades, you may be wondering the same thing: what exactly is there to plant in late summer?
Some flowers aren’t well-suited to fall weather, just like others aren’t exactly hardy in the dry heat of summer. Many annuals work well in the summer or fall, however, so let’s review what you can plant right now to ensure your garden looks good even as temperatures cool.
Rudbeckia Black-Eyed Susans
These flowers, related to the sunflower, are probably already familiar even to a novice gardener. Known for their large and vibrant, yellow-orange petals and dark centers, the black-eyed Susan can be planted throughout the spring and summer, but they only bloom for a limited period. If your garden already has black-eyed Susans in it (they’re especially good in the heat but can survive cooler weather just as well), you may be able to use the seeds from the previous flowers to have another round grow in the fall. They can bloom in late August and into September here in Nashville, and prefer direct light. Black-eyed Susans also don’t need a ton of water or maintenance to give off fall colors for several weeks, making them a great pick for folks without a ton of free time for taking care of their garden.
Lantana
Lantana is another flower that’s well-suited for your Nashville landscape in late summer and into the fall. Lantanas are beautiful, small flowers that love sunlight and thrive in direct light with well-draining soil. Lantanas come in many colors, ranging from white to bright pink, and everything in between. They’re an excellent addition to any landscape in need of some color and variety, which can be hard to come by with the arrival of fall weather. These flowers need a lot of water when they’re first planted, so take advantage of late-August rainstorms to give them a free boost.
Zinnia
Zinnias, much like black-eyed Susans, can be planted from spring into late summer. In many cases, zinnias are only knocked out by the first frost, which may not come for several months if we’re lucky. While most folks suggest late July as the latest time for planting a zinnia, with the proper maintenance and watering, they can thrive in your garden even if you plant them in August. Landscaping in Nashville can be quite strange, that way. You can get away with a lot of unorthodox planting by taking full advantage of our protracted summers and fall rain showers. Zinnias grow tall and can produce some expressive color for your garden when other plants are starting to shrink away.
Chrysanthemum
The chrysanthemum (or “mum” for short) can be planted in the spring for summer color, or in the late summer to flourish all fall. Well-maintained mums planted in the spring can last all the way through the fall, but they can be planted now in a pinch. Also known as the mum, chrysanthemum flowers come in many colors and are especially hardy. They can withstand high temperatures and some considerably cooler weather, making them great for the fall. Nashville temperatures can always fluctuate pretty wildly, but the mum doesn’t mind at all. Mums need plenty of water, but they’re well worth the effort!
Pansies
Pansies are a flower that you can plant as late as mid-fall, making them one of the best failsafes for fall and even winter color here in Nashville. Pansies have a broad spectrum of color, making them a great way to diversify your landscaping in the autumn. Pansies can be difficult to plant from seed, so you may have better luck buying established flowers from local nurseries or having them installed by a landscaping company. They need well-drained soil and frequent watering, but produce eye-popping results when well-cared for.
Color Your Landscape With The Parke Company
Every landscape benefits from pops of seasonal color. The late summer and fall are also great times to plant spring-blooming bulbs, giving you a head start on next year with months to spare. No matter what you’re looking to do with your landscaping this summer, The Parke Company is on standby to handle your planting, maintenance, and installations. Leave a message on our website for a free consultation and estimate so you can keep your landscaping looking colorful year-round.