Pam’s Plant Picks: Fall Blooming Plants to Add Color to Your Garden

(Pam’s Plant Picks is a recurring feature in Home & Garden Seattle featuring the best in seasonal plants from West Seattle garden expert Pam Jones)

Fall can be a time of transition for the garden, and finding plants to keep your garden looking good throughout the season can be a challenge.  This week’s plant picks from Pam Jones feature a variety of plants to add a splash of color to your fall garden. 

Iris Douglasiana (Douglas Iris) - This lovely wildflower is native to coastal regions of Northern California, Oregon and Washington State.  It does especially well in dry shade (although you can plant it in sun and part shade too), making it an ideal choice for underplanting mature trees for a woodland garden.  It provides visual interest year round with its evergreen iris-like leaves.  In the spring, Douglas Iris produces delicate pale purple iris-like blooms that turn into seed pods, and it is what those seed pods do this time of year that make it such an outstanding choice in the garden!  Seed pods open this time of year to reveal bright orange berries, which really stand out in the fall garden.   

Aconitum carmichaelii 'Arendsii '(Autumn Monkshood) - This non-native perennial adds a cottage garden look to any garden border.  Native to mountain regions in the Northern Hemisphere, Europe and Asia, this fall blooming erect perennial is ideal for the back of the border at 4 feet tall.  In early autumn clusters of deep blue - violet hooded flowers are borne in spire like panicles on stems above deep green foliage.  Monkshood prefers moist, fertile soils in partial shade.  But don’t eat the plants - monkshood is toxic if ingested!

Sedum 'Herbstfreude' (Autumn Joy Sedum or Stonecrop) -  These lovely herbaceous perennials are a showy classic for the fall garden.  Clump-forming deciduous perennials, Autumn Joy Sedum features fleshy blue green leaves that grow to 24" tall and wide.  In late summer the flowers begin in a shade of deep pink that takes on bronze tones in early fall before finishing a deep copper-red.  Its spent blooms add a winter interest to the garden.  Autumn Joy Sedum prefers well drained soils in full sun but will tolerate light shade.

Cyclamen hederifolium (Baby cyclamen) - This tuberous perennial features dainty lavender-pink flowers that are produced in mid to late autumn before the leaves. The leaves are glossy mid to dark green patterned, heart-shaped with scalloped edges and burgundy undersides.  As the season progresses the flowers sit and nod just above the attractive leaves.  This cyclamen is native to the Mediterranean, grows about 4 - 5 inches tall and prefers humus rich well drained soils in partial shade; ideal as an underplanting for trees and shrubs.  Cyclamen are somewhat tender here so a loose layer of mulch is a good idea.