Fall Patio Plants

Fall’s best plants, for every stoop, patio, and yard

Camellias lead the way, especially Yuletide, our fall hero, blooming October through January and easy to grow in containers or the ground. In colder zones, the new Just Chill® series blooms just as long, even in zone 6. Round it out with Autumn Rocket for privacy, R.L. Wheeler for huge winter blooms, Purple Haze for compact containers, and the tea plant for small white flowers that hold color through the gray months.

Fall foliage hits its peak now too. Coral bark and Bloodgood Japanese maples turn brilliant red, blueberry bushes surprise with fall color after a summer of fruit, and royal purple smoke bush and ninebark bring deep color and texture. Ornamental grasses shine as well, especially pink muhly grass and its softer counterpart, white muhly, along with Adagio maiden grass and Shenandoah switch grass, all easy to grow in containers by a front door.

For winter interest, look to berries: Nellie Stevens holly, coral cotoneaster, cold-hardy pomegranate, viburnum, persimmon, and American wintergreen all hold color long after other plants fade. Unique evergreens like English laurel, Moonglow juniper, GoldCrest cypress, and lemon cypress topiary add texture when everything else browns out, and bark-and-stem plants like red twig dogwood, black bamboo, and ninebark keep working through winter.

And if you're planting for next spring, now's the time to get bulbs in the ground!