It's mighty hard to beat pansies, but there are also snapdragons, which come in heights from 8 inches to three feet, flowering kale, dianthus, and violas. You don't say what state you are from. This will make a difference in what will and will not make it through the winter for you.

I am going to give calendulas a try this fall. I will also be planting larkspur and shirley poppies, but both of them will come up in the fall, stay green through the winter, and then bloom in the spring. If I understand you, you want color throughout the winter.

Don't forget bulbs: daffodils, tulips, crocus, snowflakes, etc. Again, depending on where you live, you can start having bulb color as early as February.

And, by the way, good for you for thinking a season ahead. That's always smart: it gives you time to think through designs, and prepare your ground properly before you head for the nursery. Better yet, it gives you time to start plants from seed, thus saving a ton of money.

Hint: I will be starting my pansies from seed the first week of September.

Gee, thanks for reminding me! I guess I need to go through my seed box pronto!

I am going to try some kale this year. I tried it a few years ago, but started it in spring, and the bugs really decimated it. I'm hoping that by starting it in summer I may have missed the bugs.

I also love a plant called heteropappus Blue Knoll, and grow that every year.

And Donna reminded me that I need to more add FALL-BLOOMING crocus to my garden! Not only are these beautiful flowers, but I love the reaction I get from people who see them and wonder how I got them to bloom in fall, lol! I might try some colchium too, if I can pry open the wallet, lol.

By the way, nothing lasts through the winter for me. This is definitely just fall stuff, although if I'm lucky it will be late fall. I see you are in zone 7, so you must be luckier to have things last through the winter for you.

:)
Dee

P.S. Well, I'll be! I just went to look up the Blue Knoll to give a link, and I see that it says hardy biennial. These have always bloomed first year for me! Maybe because I winter-sow them early...? Darn, I didn't WS them this year because I thought I'd just do it later, and now I don't think they'll bloom this fall. Oh well, live and learn!

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Knoll

You can buy annual asters or start them from seed. I start some every spring and stick them in here and there for fall color. Of course any of the annuals that don't freeze easily would be good too. If you started seeds 2 months ahead they would be young flowering plants when you put them in and give you color until a hard frost takes them away.
Annuals that won't freeze until a hard frost.
Petunia, Snapdragon, Nasturtium, Alyssum,dusty miller, geranium, annual phlox, poppy, nicotiana

That Blue KNoll is a beautiful flower, Dee. I looked it up in my Southern Gardening Book and it's not even listed. That is an indication that it won't grow anywhere in the entire south. Probably cannot last through our summers in order to bloom in the fall. I was hoping it would be a candidate for my blue and yellow border....Oh, well.

Tell us more about fall crocus. I am so intrigued by them, but have read that the foliage is just awful and lasts forever. What is your experience?

Thanks, Donnabaskets, Diggerdee, & Oilpainter! Y'all have given me lots to think about!

I live in Southeastern VA. What I want to do is create a very autumnal display in the front beds. I want the front of the house to clearly say "Fall is here!"

Would like to sparingly incorporate some TASTEFUL fall accessories as well. Any ideas about those would be appreciated too! My next door neighbor goes beserk with accessories for every holiday. Her house always seems like a miniature replica of Disneyland to me! I want to acknowledge & celebrate the seasons & holidays, but don't want to go overboard.

Much of the pink I have going on will still be going until frost I suspect, but I don't think impatiens look very Fall-like. The bushy, deep pink hydrangea blooms by my front door will probably be history soon. I adore that plant, but once again, it is very pink! I guess I'm thinking to bring in some purple & maybe gold.

My front door will soon be painted Benjamin Moore's Cottage Red. It is currently Ivy Green. I have a fair amount of pink in the form of perennials in my front yard...Hydrangeas, Camellias, Azaleas, so I hope the door color doesn't clash with the flowers when they are in bloom! Fortunately Cottage Red has a fair amount of brown in it. It is not fire-engine red. Purple & gold for fall should work well with it, I think.

I guess some people plant mums & asters as "annuals?" I think they remove them at the season's end? That seems a shame, since they are perennials. I do really love pansies, but wonder if I need something bigger & bushier in certain spots.

Do any of you know any secrets to really making your pansies stay bouncing & behaving? Sometimes they can start out well but get rather straggly.

Thanks again for your thoughtful responses. I will review them carefully. I'm sure many of these suggestions will fit the bill.

Happy Summer & Happy gardening!

Well, I can't help much with pansies. I seem to have terrible luck with them.

As for fall, being in New England, the thought of fall conjures up red barns (hey, your house will be perfect for this, lol!) hay bales, red/orange/yellow leaves, pumpkins and other decorative gourds, mums, and asters. I guess it is common, but I do love mums in the fall. (I actually planted some hardy ones last spring and they are doing well, other than the fact that despite cutting them back they seem to set buds on a daily basis, and I don't think I will be able to hold them off till fall. I may have to buy some and stick them in in October!)

I love the displays that have something like a hay bale on the ground, with some old corn stalks standing next to it, planted nearby with mums/asters, with a pumpkin or two or some gourds thrown in the mix. Sometimes a scarecrow looks nice - a real, home-made one, not one of the cutesy ones you buy at craft stores. Nothing necessarily wrong with those, I just prefer the real ones.

Again, being in a different zone, these suggestions may be a bit off, but here are some ideas: mums, asters, pansies, fall-blooming crocus and colchiums, kale, japanese anemones, monkshood, montauk daisy, tricyrtis, and ornamental grasses. Being a bit warmer than I am, perhaps solidago, helenium, and helianthus will last a bit longer for you.

I find that many websites will give ideas for fall flowers, but to me, those always seem to be late summer bloomers, and not for fall. Even of the ones I listed above, the only ones that will really last well into fall here are the mums, asters, pansies, kale, crocus and of course, grasses.

Donna, I can't believe you can't grow the Blue Knoll down south! Are you sure? I wonder if you were to keep it in some shade until fall....? Such a pretty flower, it seems too sad that you can't grow it!

The fall-blooming crocus look pretty much like the spring bloomers. I've never had a problem with dying foliage, but then again I have almost 50 oak trees, so I have a LOT of leaves, which probably hides it, lol. To be honest, I don't remember it hanging around at all - most likely the cold weather does it in quickly and it gets raked up with the leaves. Perhaps farther south it is an issue, but I would think really no worse than spring bulb foliage, no?

I will say that one slight problem I have with the fall crocus is the color. I tend to prefer the oranges, reds/burgundies, and yellows in fall, with perhaps some purples thrown in. So I usually buy the purple crocus.

I always have a stand of cosmos in my garden, and they always, without fail, come into full spectacular glory in the fall - just when the pinks seem to clash (IMO) with the changing leaves. I have to go stand right in front of them to look at them and admire them, lol - from a distance I see too many orange leaves in the background and it bothers me!

:)
Dee

Here is a link that might be useful: fall crocus pictures

Gee, sorry - I forgot what forum this was! I realized that everything I listed above is a perennial! Well, I guess I did mention my cosmos, lol.

Hope it helped anyway!
:)
Dee

Diggerdee, thanks so much for your additional feedback! Your display and plant ideas sound great. Your Fall garden must be stunning. You sound like you love plants & are good with color & design. Would love to see pics!

As for that crocus, the previous owner had a few of those planted in the front bed. We've been here three years now, & I yanked them out a couple of months ago because I couldn't stand the sloppy look of the foliage! It looked really odd since I try to be fairly tidy with the lawn & beds & here were these long unruly tufts of green. They looked like long spikes of grass that I refused to pull out of the bed! The little purple flowers that bloomed for a short while were not worth it, imo! However, if they were put in a location that was not the center of attention, I can see how they could be a nice addition to many planting schemes.

"...Your Fall garden must be stunning. You sound like you love plants & are good with color & design...."

...Well, I love plants...lol, that's about all that's true from the above statement! Trust me, my garden is MUCH more beautiful in my head than in real life, lol.

Anyway, while I don't have a problem with the fall crocus foliage, I do know what you mean. I find the same thing to be true of iris reticulata foliage in spring. The little irises are gorgeous while they bloom, but then the foliage grows to about two feet tall and just will...not...die! Every year I say I'm going to yank them out and I never do.

Good luck with your fall garden! Please post some photos if you end up doing a fall-themed display!

:)
Dee