East Texas gardeners can enjoy beautiful flowering plants throughout the fall. An abundance of' fall blooming annuals and perennials are available.
Chrysanthemums are probably the most popular selection for early fall color. Garden mums can be grown as annuals or perennials. Cut back faded blooms for continuous color.
Marigolds are often overlooked but do very well during the season. Spider mite problems are greatly reduced when they are planted in late summer or early fall. Other annuals appropriate for the fall garden include pansies, dianthus, violas, ornamental cabbage, snapdragons and dusty miller. If the winter is fairly mild, many fall plantings will provide a vigorous display of blooms in early spring.
Perennials will provide color this fall and for many seasons to come. Autumn asters (lavender) are an excellent choice for a border. Goldenrod makes a lovely companion plant. Other plants to consider are hardy ageratum, Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) and sedum 'Autumn Joy'.
Mary Ann Rogers, Smith County Master Gardener
Texas Cooperative Extension
Spring is never a gardening challenge in East Texas. Our acid soil, plentiful spring moisture, and moderate temperatures join to produce a flurry of blossoms from flowering shrubs and spring-blooming bulbs. But facing a Texas summer can be brutal, and high temperatures and rare rainfall can leave the fall colorless. However, selecting water-thrifty plants can give years of maintenance-free fall blooms along with the mums and asters. Plant them in early spring in order to have well-established plants by the time summer’s heat arrives.
Several staples are readily available in garden centers. Salvia leucantha, or Mexican bush sage, is a dependable fall bloomer. Spikes up to three feet reward gardeners with plenty of purple in August-September. The lantanas are another popular choice. L. montevidensis, the trailing purple one, is a Texas native. Lantana camera is a shrub form that yields pink and yellow mixed in the same bloom head. An occasional pruning of the lantanas to stimulate branching is the only care needed. The re-seeding annual petunia ‘Laura Bush’ is not only winter hardy but evergreen as well. It then performs through the hottest summer with single purple blooms.
Other Texas natives are more difficult to obtain. Eupatorium coelestinum, sometimes called wild ageratum for its fluffy blue flowers, provides a wonderful sky-blue color early to late fall. Two golden-colored perennials of the marigold family are hard-working fall bloomers. Tagetes lucida, the Mexican mint marigold, has the scent of anise. And the T. lemonii, ‘Copper Canyon daisy,’ is still bloomining at Thanksgiving.
Scherel Carver, Smith County Master Gardener
Texas Cooperative Extension
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