What’s Blooming in Early Fall?
Hosta ‘Blueberry Cobbler’ is beautiful when it blooms in September.
As I said in my last post featuring two glorious fall gardens, there is no area of Carolyn’s Shade Gardens planted to peak now. However, I have many beautiful fall-blooming plants, and the gardens are quite pretty in fall. These perennials and shrubs make a daily walk through the property worthwhile even as the weather cools. In this post I will show you what plants you can add to your garden to extend your blooms through September. The next post will feature plants for October, and the final post in the series will feature November.
Nursery News: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
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Hosta ‘Blueberry Cobbler’ on the right and ‘Jimmy Crack Corn’ on the left. Both manage to keep their leaves pristine through the summer.
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Yellow wax-bells, Kirengoshoma palmata, are a perennial with the presence of a shrub. The leaves add interest all season, and the unusual yellow flowers bloom in September.
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I cut my native garden phlox, P. paniculata, down by half in June and have flowers into October. Here you see the bed on 9/10 in full bloom with plenty of buds coming. Today 10/21, a few flowers remain but the phlox is mostly done.
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The phlox starts with white at one end of the bed and progresses through many shades to dark pink at the other. This native plant is great for butterflies, bees, and all kinds of native insects.
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This sedum, called ‘Mr. Goodbud’, was added this year to pick up the maroon blotches on ‘Katherine Adele’ hardy geranium.
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No flowers here, but I love the way ‘Diana Clare’ pulmonaria and Japanese painted fern look in the fall.
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Native Rudbeckia triloba, ostensibly called brown-eyed Susan although I have never heard anyone use that name, with the purple leaves of ‘Delta Jazz’ crapemyrtle. This rudbeckia self-sows prolifically.
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Perennial native lobelias, both L. cardinalis (red) and L. siphilitica (blue) are very important to my garden in September, and sometimes they cross. Here you see great blue lobelia peeking out from behind a lobelia seedling. I often get white seedlings but never this amazing color.
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Hellbore leaves surrounded by cascading ‘Aureola’ Japanese forest grass, a wonderful fall combo.
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This is a perennial that fills the role of a shrub, but I have forgotten its name. There is a close up of the flowers below. Does anyone know what it is? Note: Readers have identified this as PA native Doellingeria (formerly Aster) umbellata or flat-topped aster. Although the habit of this aster is supposed to be upright, I think mine is flopping for lack of sun. I am going to cut it back in June next year to see if I can improve its habit. However, I like it anyway because the stems don’t fall completely to the ground. For more information on this plant, click here.
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flowers of native flat-topped aster
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Hosta ‘Summer Lovin’ with native spigelia leaves and ‘All Gold’ Japanese forest grass. All three look great from spring through fall, and the spigelia even rebloomed earlier this month.
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It wouldn’t be fall without hardy begonia. Not my best photo but it went by early this year after a torrential rain.
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This lovely clump of the white-flowered hardy begonia planted itself on the hill by the drive.
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A glimpse of what is to come: ‘Honorine Joubert’ Japanese anemone starting to bloom on 9/29. It is in full bloom now.
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Carolyn
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CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS 
October 21, 2014 at 6:38 pm
possibly kalimeris?
October 21, 2014 at 7:25 pm
Leslie, Thanks for taking a stab. Someone suggested that but I think the leaves are wrong. These are lance shaped or like an ellipse with pointed ends, fat in the middle. Is that consistent with Kalimeris? Carolyn
October 21, 2014 at 7:47 pm
Tartarian aster ?
October 21, 2014 at 8:26 pm
Kay, another good guess, but I have Tartarian aster in another location. This plant blooms in September and Tartarian aster is more of an October-blooming plant with large, coarse toothed leaves. Carolyn
October 21, 2014 at 8:25 pm
Could it be Boltonia?
October 21, 2014 at 8:34 pm
Clara, A friend suggested Boltonia and I haven’t ruled it out. Do you have Boltonia and do the flowers and leaves look right to you? Looking at images on google the flowers look fuller than mine and whiter too. Maybe this is the straight species. I once planted Boltonia Snowbank in another location, maybe I moved it or it seeded. I have vague recollections of getting an unusual native plant at a plant sale and planting it in this location but the ID is lost in the mists of time. Carolyn
October 21, 2014 at 9:08 pm
Maybe Doellingeria umbellata.
October 22, 2014 at 11:51 am
Tim, I think you have it. The leaves are identical and even described as lanceolate-elliptic (what I was trying to say in my response to Leslie). The flowers are the right color off-white and loose looking like my plant. The only thing that gives pause is the description of the flower clusters as being flat-topped and the habit as erect. Mine flowers are loose and the plant cascades somewhat in a nice way. However, I also remember my plant as being an unusual native which this is. Here is a great description of the plant which I will add to the photo caption: http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/fltp_aster.html. Thanks, Carolyn
October 21, 2014 at 9:20 pm
I’ve had Boltonia ‘Snowbank’ and I’d almost bet money that’s what it is (but not too much money). Also had a Boltonia from HPS Seed Exchange but don’t remember which one.
October 22, 2014 at 11:52 am
I think Boltonia was close but it is actually the plant suggested in Tim’s comment. See my response. Thanks for joining the discussion.
October 22, 2014 at 1:43 am
Hi, my guesss is aster umbellatus. By the way, I enjoy following your blog all the way from Denmark. Marie
October 22, 2014 at 12:03 pm
Marie, The internet is an amazing thing when a gardener in Denmark can help ID a native American wildflower for a gardener in the US. I think you are right, but the genus has changed from Aster to Doellingeria due to a distinction relevant to taxonomists only. Thanks for your help. Carolyn
October 22, 2014 at 9:36 am
Carolyn, everything is looking wonderful in your garden. I especially think ‘Mr. Goodbud’ and ‘Katherine Adele’ are a good match.
October 22, 2014 at 12:04 pm
PBM, I feel in love with the color of ‘Mr. Goodbud’ but no nothing about it. I hope it is a good sedum despite its silly name. Carolyn
October 22, 2014 at 4:02 pm
Carolyn – what a lovely post. I have been adding more phlox to my garden each year because it seems such a good doer on many fronts — great for pollinators, lovely fragrance, and long blooming (I find mine blooms into September even without cutting back earlier in the season). I can only plant phlox though in a fenced area near the house, as my local groundhogs seem very fond of phlox (also echinacea and astrantia). However, I am curious if you have more to say about your experience with Kirengoshoma. It’s a plant I’ve been admiring from afar, but I read conflicting things about how drought tolerant it is. My hillside gets awfully dry especially in a year like we’ve just had where rain was but a fraction of normal for most of August and September (and I don’t irrigate as a matter of principle and practicality). I also wonder how prone Kirengoshoma is to critter damage (as in the aforementioned groundhogs). Have you found it to have any downsides like flopping, spreading too fast, not spreadind fast enough, etc.? I really enjoy when you profile specific plants or plant families as it’s always so informative to see your in situ photos and get the low down from someone with practical experience in growing them.
October 22, 2014 at 7:31 pm
Klaus, Deer love phlox but I now have a deer fence. If I don’t cut it back, it usually starts in early August or even July and is don by mid-September at the latest. We have an occasional groundhog but not enough to test what they do and don’t eat. Nothing has ever touched my Kirengoshoma. I have it growing in part shade (later afternoon sun) in a fairly dry area under a huge London plane tree, and it does not get any supplemental water. It does not flop or spread too much, mine seem to be clump forming and upright. It is a subtle plant flowerwise, and it does take up the space of a shrub. Carolyn
October 22, 2014 at 5:02 pm
Obviously Doellingeria umbellata is the correct answer. So the question is –where did you find it?
October 22, 2014 at 7:32 pm
I got it at a local native plant sale or from a native plant enthusiast. I only have a vague recollection.
October 23, 2014 at 1:21 pm
Your garden proves that shady gardens can have flowers all year long. My shady garden depends on berries and maple leaves for color. I don’t have many flowers.
October 23, 2014 at 2:32 pm
Thanks, Denise, one of my major objectives is to help gardeners look at shade as desirable rather than a drawback. Carolyn
October 23, 2014 at 4:05 pm
Great ideas–ones particularly suited to my customers are the pulmonaria, lobelia, “Summer Lovin'” hosta (with spigelia), and hardy begonias. Thanks for posting the photos and your thoughts.
October 23, 2014 at 5:48 pm
Frank, I am always happy when someone gets some useable ideas from my posts, and especially great when the reader is a professional like you. I wish more nonbloggers would comment (I love blogger comments too but that’s often all I get) because I find it inspirational. Carolyn
October 23, 2014 at 8:26 pm
A lot of early October activity in your garden, Carolyn. Mine is nearly done with this week’s cold and rain. I love that pulmonaria and Japanese painted fern combination. I have both, so will try them next to each other. P. x
October 24, 2014 at 11:42 am
Pam, I hope to do another post with plants from mid-October through November. The pulmonaria looks evern better with the painted fern cultivar ‘Pictum’ which has a lot more silver in it. The fern in the photo is a painted fern seedling. Mine seed (or spore) prolifically. Carolyn
October 24, 2014 at 4:55 pm
Yummy!
October 24, 2014 at 5:09 pm
Thanks!
October 24, 2014 at 6:57 pm
Hi Carolyn! I like how you combine different plants. These combinations look good even now, in the fall.
October 25, 2014 at 2:02 pm
Thanks, Tatyana, nice to hear from you. Carolyn
October 25, 2014 at 8:43 am
Wow, I love your phlox and pulmonaria! And what an interesting and beautiful colored lobelia! I didn’t know they crossed like that. I have yet to develop my shade garden in my new place. Thanks for all the lovely plant ideas!
October 25, 2014 at 2:04 pm
Indie, I am not sure they will cross if you just have a few. I have had them for years and they have seeded all over. I have gotten white, blue and white, and now this beautiful purple-red. Carolyn
October 26, 2014 at 6:38 pm
I hate to admit it but I like the flowering hosta best of all. A little darker color might be nice, but it is a showy plant!
What a nice planting of phlox, the variety of colors really makes for a nice show.
October 26, 2014 at 7:34 pm
Frank, Hosta ‘Blueberry Cobbler’ is one of my favorite flowering plants this time of year too. Although many hosta flowers are quite ordinary, there are some hostas that should be prized for their flowers, and Blueberry Cobbler is one of them. It also has a great habit and beautiful blue leaves during the main season. Carolyn
October 28, 2014 at 1:25 pm
Your fall garden is quite lovely. It must be a great pleasure to stroll through and see all these wonderful plant combinations. I was immediately taken by ‘Katherine Adele’ hardy geranium. I will have to do some research. I don’t see many hardy geraniums around here.
October 28, 2014 at 2:04 pm
Deb, ‘Katherine Adele’ does have very pretty leaves and a great habit. However, it self sows like crazy and can be quite a menace. Before I knew what was happening it had infested a border across 5′ of grass from its location and was in the process of smothering the plants residing there. Now I am very careful to dig out all seedlings. Carolyn
October 28, 2014 at 10:09 pm
Your garden is quite colorful at this time of year. I have not even really looked at mine, but this weather has been a roller coaster. I came from snow in Romania to 70° here in Buffalo. It was supposed to be 78° in Romania and they had a blizzard. I did see phlox in bloom here though. Late for it in our area.
October 29, 2014 at 9:31 am
Donna, I am glad you are safely home and can’t wait to here more about your trip. 70 degrees here too. It seems like there is less variation in temperatures these days between here and Maine or where you are, surprising. Carolyn
October 30, 2014 at 2:08 am
Beautiful gardens in fall, Carolyn. I cut my phlox to put in vases and found it kept reblooming so I will have to remember to cut the phlox back. Of course the deer do it for me many times.
October 30, 2014 at 9:55 am
Donna, Deer do love garden phlox. Before I had my deer fence they always ate it although they never ate pther types of phlox like moss and creeping phlox. Carolyn
November 27, 2014 at 2:49 pm
What’s up, this weekend is pleasant in support of me, since
this moment i am reading this fantastic educational article here at my house.
October 13, 2023 at 7:07 am
You do not ship anything but snowdrops to other US states? You have so many great things ideal for my garden…..
October 13, 2023 at 9:29 am
Sorry, but I am a one person business and have only so much time.
October 13, 2023 at 2:09 pm
Thanks! Love your plants!!!!