A great option for autumn color in your garden is to add potted plants. Potted grasses will bring some height and texture. Mums, gourds and pumpkins near the front of your garden bed will add color and enhance the autumnal season palette. Place Brugmansia, Angels Trumpet, a wonderfully fragrant tropical plant, in a pot on your patio, and its nighttime fragrance will fill the fall air.
As summer fades, there is a lingering warmth and some colorful life that is still at its peak. Colchium, Autumn Crocus, emerges and is that bit of pink hope reminding us of summer blooms. African Blue Basil is particularly gorgeous this time of year with its purple hues and abundant blooms, a magnet for pollinators. This is the time of year that Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans), with its red flower spikes, and Mexican sage (Salvia leucantha) are putting on their best show. Salvia guaranitica and uliginosa’s blue tubular flowers contrast the toned down hues of the autumn landscape. Grasses are very showy and sway to the rhythm of the wind. Purple, pink and white asters and yellow goldenrods vibrate in meadows, helping monarchs find their way south.
I just love this time of year, lightly bundled up walking through orchards, the smell of ripening and decaying apples and pumpkins perfuming the air, shrubs and trees transitioning into their autumn fashion, the pace of life begins to slow and a moment for reflection is found. This transition between the bright excitement of summer and the dark quiet calm of winter captivates my nostalgic heart. As I finish writing this ode to autumn, my monarch has emerged and is ready for her next phase.
