In recent years, I have found even more reasons not to bother with the standard autumn plantings of mums one sees everywhere—stiff bunches of them on front porches, usually surrounded by pumpkins, gourds, and maybe some corn stalks and/or hay. These displays can be quite effective, and I’d like them more if not for the mums. Mums can’t even be decent enough to provide any kind of longtime bloom; many immediately begin showing brown areas almost as soon as they’re planted. They also have a tendency to fall (stiffly) apart.
Since many of the annuals I already have in pots or elsewhere will bloom through most of mum season, I just stick with those; the increased rain of fall helps with their maintenance.
And recently I’ve begun to add more fall-specific perennials. Like Anne, I am a big anemone fan and have a small stand of them. First, I had to learn that they wanted more sun than I had realized. (This lesson will be a lifelong and never-quite-absorbed process for me.)
Much less picky are the many varieties of solidago. I had always enjoyed goldenrod along the sides of highways or romping through abandoned lots; often, I’d grab some to take home. However, as many gardeners and naturalists know, there are more than a hundred species and dozens of hybrids, most bred to be shorter and less aggressive. I have the ‘Fireworks,’ which looks exactly like its name, with golden spires arcing out in all directions and the Blue-stem (Solidago caesia), which provides a totally different flowering pattern later in the season. I do need to pull out some of the ‘Fireworks’ every season, but it’s not a big deal.
There are some who prefer goldenrod in wild or cultivated meadow settings, and I get why, but, with limited space to devote to late-season bloomers, goldenrod is perfect for me. It makes its presence known when presence is needed.
I love ‘Fireworks’ – though I find myself glaring at it in frustration as it takes sooo long for the flowers to actually come out. But I also love a rough wild one which is so BAD that it’s not, as far as I can see, in commerce. But, I am glad to say, it is in my garden. Looks good for about 2 months or so.
These late flowerers do give so much more, especially in long flowering, than early summer flowers.
Goldenrod grows in the poor clay soil I have in part of my yard. I love it this time of year. It actually is not spreading all that quickly. Besides, I have reached the point where, for that part of my yard, I am perfectly fine with letting the Obedient Plant, Cardinal flower, Black-eyes Susans, Milkweed, Catnip, Goldenrod and a few others fight it out over the free space between various shrubs and tall grasses. It is a bit of a wild area on both sides of the sidewalk and the neighbors love “walking through the garden”.
Greg– I would love to be a neighbor and walk through your garden. I absolutely adore walking through a sidewalk garden — nonexistent where I live. I also have a fondness for garden thugs, and like to stay out of it and watch them duke it out.
The nice thing about wild goldenrod is that it has fairly short roots, which makes it easy to pull out when combating its propensity to spread. Curiously, wherever goldenrod has taken over a spot, I usually find smooth blue asters there as well. In her book “Braiding Sweetgrass”, Robin Wall Kimmerer also noted that phenomenon.
Adore Fireworks, but hate the fact that it never comes true but spreads itself like a cheap quilt over the beds, crowding out the original plants. Definitely a place for solidago – whatever form it takes — I just need to be vigilant. – MW
I planted Solidago Fireworks two years ago and it was accidentally weeded out of the garden. It attracted lots of pollinators and looked great with asters.