Flowers To Last Through Fall And Winter

Each season has flowers that are best for that season. Fall flowers have longer to grow so they tend to be tall and stately and they have colors for the seasons such as rust, gold and purple. Plant your fall bloomers early so that they have a chance to get well established before fall. However, you don't want them to get heat stress either. When to plant fall flowers is a hard thing to judge, so play it by ear and hope for the best.

Some varieties that are good fall flowers are Michaelmas Daisy, sometimes called the New York Aster, that blooms in late summer or early fall, with petals in white, blue deep purple or pink. The Caryopteris (Blue Mist Shrub) also blooms in late summer early fall and has fragrant blooms.

Chelone (Turtlehead) has blooms that only last about a month and have no scent. The Chrysanthemum has many varieties and has many uses. They also have culinary uses such as white and yellow chrysanthemums that are boiled to make a sweet drink and the leaves are steamed or boiled for greens. They have a natural insecticide that appears to repel insects and to keep the mosquito from biting.

Winter flowers include the Firethorn Pyracantha, which is an evergreen shrub with scarlet fruits. The berries survive through the winter into early spring. Winter Jasmine (Jasminium nudiflora) bear tiny bright yellow blooms with stems of bright green and has been given the award of garden merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.