October Surprises in the Garden

Fall may be the most pleasant garden season in Minnesota. Our springs are usually short and unpredictable. Summers can be cool and rainy or more often hot and humid—sometimes both. In fall, the mosquitoes are down, the humidity is usually not bad and it’s very rarely hot.

That’s why I’ve always planted a lot of fall-blooming perennials. This year, I have two perennials that are surprising me with how pretty they are — and an annual that took it’s time blooming but is now really putting on a show in my back alley.

The perennials are both natives to Minnesota, purchased from Prairie Moon Nursery as plugs last spring. This is the first time I’ve gotten so many blooms from plugs, which is likely because the number of weedy plants in my new garden is like, zero, where there were thousands of them surrounding my previous garden.  On to the surprises…

False aster (Boltonia asteroides): Truth in advertising, these look a tad weedy until they start blooming, and according to the Minnesota Wildflowers website, they can be aggressive. I’ve put them near my back fence, facing the alley, and they are in really rotten soil, so I’m hoping that will contain them. Now for the good part — the blooms! They are big, a bright white and yellow cloud of daisies. The plants usually start blooming in August, but mine did not bloom at all until mid-September, which may be related to the location.

Wild quinine (Parthineum integrifolia): I’ve heard several folks who are experts on native plants recommend wild quinine as easy care and attractive to people and pollinators, so I decided to give it a try in the new garden. The blooms come in August, but look pretty for a long time. They are often compared to yarrow because the blooms have a flat, sort of bubbly appearance. The foliage is large and a bit rough, so these will be moved this fall to the back of the border they are in.

‘Heavenly Blue’ morning glory: Like a lot of gardeners, I planted Grandpa Ott’s morning glory once and regretted it for years. (So did my poor neighbors, who ended up with a thick patch of it!) But I really wanted some screening between our patio and the alley and decided to grow ‘Heavenly Blue’ there. The plant took awhile to get started, but eventually it crawled up the trellis I gave it and took off in both directions along the fence. Starting about Sept. 20, it began to bloom, really bloom. That’s late for morning glories, but the pale blue blooms, which then turn kind of purplish and white as they fade are worth the wait.

Which plants are adding luster to your fall garden?