Pretty Pansies
Many people forget what flowers can and cannot be planted in the fall. While I recommend planting all shrubs and trees (except ornamental grasses) in the fall or winter, I do not recommend planting spring flowers. Spring flowers include petunias, begonias, impatiens, etc. Those will die around the first frost!
There are a limited set of flowers that can be planted in the fall. The list goes like this…Pansies, Cabbage, Kale, and Mums. That is pretty much the extent of your choices for winter color. These plants, except the mum, will survive during the cold temperatures and will look fantastic in the early spring. Now, if you live in Michigan, I don’t know that these will survive. Ya’ll really get cold up there!! Mums on the other hand have a short window of color. They are great for a couple of weeks with one bloom cycle and then they go away. If you plant them in the ground, they usually will return in the spring, but not too slightly for the winter months.
As all seasonal color flowers, the pansies, cabbage and kale will die when it gets hot, so most people pull them up and replace them with spring flowers in the spring.
P.S. Late fall is the time to think about and plant your spring bulbs, i.e. Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths, etc. These will not give you winter color, but come March, you will be glad you did!!
Happy Flowers
#1 by Laura Ray on October 15th, 2009
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Johnny Jump-ups are my fall favorite. They're so cheerful and easy and don't need dead-heading the way pansies do. Like you said, I don't know what Michigan folks can do, but they are wonderful here all winter in SC.