Fall Cutting Gardens

Brilliant Color Outside & Inside Your Home

One of the goals for fall gardens is to keep the color going for as long as possible. But why stop at the garden when you can bring fall’s beautiful colors inside your home, too? A fall cutting garden answers the color call for both your home’s interior and exterior. Here’s a selection of plants that look great in the garden as well as your tabletops. Along with flowers, we’ve included some shrubs, trees and ornamental grasses, too, since they add color, texture and drama to gardens and arrangements:

Asters – Daisy-like perennials with purple petals and bright yellow centers that bees love.

Blanket Flower (Gaillardia) – Multi-color, brilliant blooms (yellow/orange, yellow/red, purple/white) that last from spring through fall. Birds enjoy the spent seed heads.

Sunflowers (Helianthus Annuus) – Big, beautiful blooms impact in varieties that range in color and size. From giant “Skyscraper” and “American Giant,” to diminutive “Suntastic Yellow” and “Little Becka.” For a different sunflower color palette, try deep ruby “Moulin Rouge,” wine-hued “Chianti”, or earth-toned “Terracotta.”

Ageratum – An annual with fuzzy, button-shaped, intense blue-violet blooms that last throughout the season. Attractive to birds and butterflies.

Chrysanthemums – This classic fall flower needs to be planted in the spring, so make a note for next year! Mums come in a wide range of colors, bloom size, some button-shaped, others with daisy-like centers.

Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea Quercifolia) – Available in single or double flowers, in hues from fresh green to snowy white and deep blush, with dramatic leaves that turn to brilliant fall hues of burgundy, wine, terracotta and plum. When dried, cuttings make for dramatic arrangements that can last for months.

Beauty Berry (Callicarpa Americana) – Bright purple berries nestled among yellow-green foliaged branches make this shrub a winner when it comes to fall color in the garden. The berries are a favorite of birds, but be forewarned: deer love the tasty foliage.

Fountain Grass (Pennisetum) – Flower tufts that glow when backlit by the sun and wave in soft breezes. Varieties include pink-white flowers with leaves that turn a bronzy-orange in the fall and winter.

Miscanthus – Hardy, ornamental grasses that come in a wide variety of colors, sizes and growth habits. “Gold Breeze” has yellow, horizontal stripes, “Purpurascens” turns a blazing red-orange in the fall with its flowers on tall stalks, while “Yaku Jima” keeps its flowers tight in the foliage. There’s a cultivar for every taste and garden!

Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum) – A tree that’s a classic fall stunner, with leaves turning sunlight yellow to fiery red, it’s a quintessential autumn beauty.