Autumn Flowering Plants – Here Are Three To Try

I’m on a mission to have vases in my house all year round filled with plants I’ve grown myself. But picturing my garden in October, November and December, I know I’m going to be struggling. So I defintely need some inspiration for Autumn flowering plants.

Well, the good news is that many of my quick growing flower suggestions for last week’s blog – dahlias and cosmos – will flower on in October or until the first frosts. But I don’t want to rely on them. To me they’ll be a bonus!

I need Autumn flowering plants – ones which genuinely have their glory days in these tricky months – and look good in a vase. So here are my three which I’m going to try…

Nerines

Nerines are bulbs which have lovely lily-like flowers on very straight leafless stems. Their foliage is nothing to write home about; it’s sort of thin and strappy (a bit like an Agapanthus). Though having said that, I think it forms a rather nice clump starting in Spring.

While you might disagree with me about the leaves, there’s no disputing the glamour of the Nerine’s flowers. They’re exotic looking, with wonderful petals which curl back on themselves, like a supple gymnast!

Coming from South Africa, Nerines do like their heat. (Don’t we all!) So you want to go for the hardier type – Nerine bowdenii – as the others are tender and have to be grown in a greenhouse.

Another thing to consider is that Nerines tend to only come in pinks and reds. I’m not normally a fan of these colours. But come October and November, I’ll be thrilled to have any colour in my garden. A great swathe of Nerines livening things up will be fabulous.

How to Grow These Autumn Flowering Plants

If you’re going to plant them, or anything for that matter, I’d always go for impact and grow quite a few if you can. You don’t want a ‘bity’ effect in your garden. Nerines like a well-drained, sunny sheltered spot. So, I’m probably going to plant mine in big containers and keep them at the front of my South-facing little cottage, where they can have a good blast of sun all day!

Then again, the containers will look pretty bare the rest of the year. So, I’m going to also plant some actually in the gravel at the front of my house – to see if that works. I have Agapanthus growing very successfully in this way, and a big swathe of Nerines might work just as well. Mmm lots to think about. But isn’t that the joy of gardening? Experimenting and then feeling like a total a genius when something works!

I think Nerine bowdenii also look lovely planted in a mixed border. But if you’re planting them in a border, I’d put them towards the front or middle as they only grow 45cm tall.

Wherever you plant them, the experts say these Autumn flowering plants don’t like being disturbed. So once you’ve selected a lovely sunny spot for them, leave them be!

Hesperantha coccinea

Like Nerines, this is not a plant I’ve grown before. But having researched Autumn flowering plants and discovered this beauty, I realise I’m massively missing out!

Exotic, elegant, dainty – a bit like a slender Gladioli – adaptable, good in all styles of garden and late flowering. Indeed, if you’re living in a sheltered area, and dead head it regularly, it may well still bloom until late December! What’s not to love about Hesperantha coccinea?

Also called the Kaffir lily, it grows about 60cm tall and comes in whites, pinks, reddy-oranges and deep red. This semi evergreen perennial forms a lovely clump from which spikes of starry or bowl-shaped flowers emerge from late Summer through to late Autumn.

It’s rhizomous and likes moist but well-drained conditions in full sun and a sheltered spot. If you live in a harsh area you may need to protect the rhizomes from the frost in Winter, by providing a layer of mulch (straw or compost). Also check they don’t dry out in Summer, but otherwise, they seem pretty straight forward.

Plant it in Spring and water it in well. Add a generous layer of mulch and compost around the plant to give it a good start. The mulch will also help keep it moist.

You’ll certainly want lots of these lovely Autumn flowering plants. To expand your stock, simply divide the plants once they become a bit congested in mid to late Spring. The experts suggest doing this every 2-3 years. Alternatively you can harvest the seeds. But as they take a few months to get going and then it’s years before you can transplant them and grow them on, I can guarantee I’m not going to be doing that!

Crysanthemums

There’s no doubt that for late flowering potential and longevity in a vase, Crysanthemums take some beating. But there’s no way I’m growing the very thing I spend the rest of my life avoiding – the cheap looking flowers which grace garage forecourts or pad out supermarket bouquets.

So if, like me, you’re cringing at the thought of Crysanthemums, the good news is there are some really stylish varieties out there, which are giving Dahlias a run for their money. Here are those which have caught my eye and are late flowering:

• ‘Avignon Pink’ – which if you’re also following my advice and going for Nerines, goes beautifully with Nerine bowdenii ‘Ostara’. 
• If you’re after something more copper coloured,  ‘Pandion Bronze’ and ‘Spider Bronze’ are both lovely
• ‘Tarantula Red’ is a stunning velvety crimson red
• ‘Pip Salmon’ – crimson markings on the edge of soft apricot flowers, just amazing
• ‘Tula Improved’ – when I first saw it I thought it was a Dahlia! It’s so exotic with star type flowes of yellow and burgundy

I’m going to buy all of these as rooted cuttings. (I need to get ordering!!)

Caring For Them

The experts say that to really take advantage of these late flowering, exotic Crysanthemums you need to grow them in a sheltered spot, or even a greenhouse or poly tunnel. I don’t have either of these so I’m going to try them in large pots in a really sheltered corner of my garden. One plant per 40cm wide pot.

They do need a bit of care. They will need support from a stake – and tying in as they grow. This should be tall enough for the stem of the plant, but short enough for the flower to be above it.

It’s also important to water throughout the Summer and to give them a liquid feed every two weeks from the middle of Summer until the buds appear.

As these are being grown for picking, I’ll want to encourage them to be bushy and productive rather than a spindly, one hit wonder. So once the plants reach 15-20cm, I’ll pinch them out, removing the top growth and taking the plant down to three or four leaves up from the base of the plant. This will encourage side shoots to form.

Sadly with Crysanthemums, older plants are less productive. So you do need to be prepared to replace them very regularly.  So while I’m buying rooted cuttings this year, to get my Crysanthemum supply going, next year I’ll take cuttings from my plants next April. I’ll blog about that next year (talk about planning ahead!)

Autumn Flowering Plants – don’t forget grasses

So that’s my three flower suggestions but before I go I want to give a shout out for grasses. Anyone who doesn’t grow grasses for their Autumn vases is missing an enormous trick. They have a variety of flowerheads. Indeed, these fawn and buff-coloured beauties not only provide amazing movement and interest in an Autumn and Winter garden, but they also make a fantastic addition to vases.

If you’re focused on how they’ll look in vases, then I think you can’t go wrong with a Miscanthus. It grows about 1m tall and wide. So if you don’t have space for it in your borders, grow it in a pot. If you’re thinking, ‘but that sounds like a rather boring waste of a pot’ I’d have to disagree. I have loads of different grasses in pots – I love them all. Sure some aren’t doing much in Spring, but that’s when your Spring flowering bulbs are strutting their stuff, so you won’t notice what your dear old grasses are up to!

Miscanthus likes a sunny sheltered spot. Give it these conditions and it will reward you with plumes of soft, drooping flowerheads right into Autumn. These in turn become wonderfully architectural seedheads for your floral displays.

The experts suggest protecting them from frosts, but mine are fine without too much maintenance. Simply cut clumps of Miscanthus grass back to ground level in Spring – and wait for all the lovely new growth to emerge!

Autumn Flowering Plants

So that’s it from me today. Three Autumn flowering plants and a bonus dose of grasses thrown in. Don’t say I’m not generous!

Seriously though, have a lovely day gardening. See you next week – x