From the Garden: Your Autumn Garden Must Haves!

It’s cer­tain­ly been a rainy sum­mer, but the rain has helped keep our plants green, grow­ing, and bloom­ing all sea­son. Right now, Lan­dis’ gar­dens are approach­ing their autumn peak, and some of our stand­out plants pack real flower power.

We love autumn cro­cus! Many years ago, gar­den­ers plant­ed sev­er­al Colchicum autum­nale in the Van Love­land Peren­ni­al beds, and these bulbs put on a show every fall. Not actu­al­ly a true cro­cus, Colchicum autum­nale is in the lily fam­i­ly. It grows foliage in the spring that dies back to the ground in ear­ly sum­mer. In ear­ly to mid-Sep­tem­ber, the colchicum flow­ers emerge from the soil in shades of laven­der and last for many days. Pol­li­na­tors enjoy them as well. They are easy to grow and low main­te­nance, a must have in the autumn garden!

We also love anemone. Lan­dis has both the Anemone hupe­hen­sis and the Anemone x hybri­da ​‘Hon­orine Jobert’ (both Japan­ese anemone) grow­ing in the gar­den. The Japan­ese anemone is a hardy peren­ni­al whose flow­ers bloom on tall stems and last through Octo­ber. These plants are late to emerge from the ground in spring, but they are def­i­nite­ly worth the wait.

Anoth­er favorite is the Ver­non­ia noveb­o­ra­cen­sis (New York iron­weed). This native plant is a pol­li­na­tor favorite, espe­cial­ly for but­ter­flies and bees. Bright pur­ple flow­ers open on tall stems in late August, a love­ly com­pan­ion for pur­ple cone­flow­ers (Echi­nacea) and asters as the sea­son tran­si­tions from sum­mer to fall. 

Lan­dis has two Les­pedeza thun­bergii (bush clover) in the gar­dens, and each year dur­ing the Fall Plant, Book & Bake Sale, they are in heavy bloom – and these plants sell out at the sale. These decid­u­ous semi-woody shrubs are easy to main­tain and are real show­stop­pers. The plants are cut back each spring, and new shoots grow slow­ly through the sea­son. Even­tu­al­ly these shoots turn into a large shrub with cas­cad­ing branch­es full of small pur­ple flow­ers, attract­ing both hum­ming­birds and butterflies.

You will also find our autumn gar­dens filled with sedums, asters, chrysan­the­mum, helianthus, lobelia, and fall-bloom­ing cro­cus until the cold tem­per­a­tures and frost set in. Feel free to vis­it and enjoy all the col­ors our grounds have to offer and find a few of your own must have plants for your fall garden!

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