By Shannon Moreau | Fort Collins Nursery
Autumn brings many things: cooler days and nights, splashes of color across our tree canopies, and a plethora of fall produce, such as roasted chilies, pumpkins, and apples. The onset of the new season also means it’s time to refresh flower beds and containers! While the abundance of mum (chrysanthemum) varieties tends to be the most popular fall option for color and texture, there are also quite a few edible plants that can still be planted to elevate your garden.
Herbs make a useful and easy addition to any garden. Choose herbs that can be continually harvested, like culinary sage, mint, and rosemary (be sure to grow your mint in a container to avoid it invading your garden, lawn, house, and life). With their fragrant leaves and flowers, they add charm and beauty when tucked into beds or containers. Be sure to keep up with your harvest, as many culinary herbs are not tolerant of hard freezes. If cool temps come your way, you can easily move containers inside to protect them overnight or leave them indoors to continue your herb harvest through the winter! Enjoy them fresh or preserve them to add to your spice lineup.
Fall is also a great time to plant many of your cool-season crops for a second time. Look for plants that can handle a light frost or are quick to mature. This will ensure that you are able to harvest your produce before hard freezes visit your garden. Leafy greens like lettuce, kale, and Swiss chard are not only delicious but are excellent choices for adding color to the landscape.
Choose brightly colored varieties such as Rouge d’Hiver Romaine Lettuce or Red Russian Kale to increase the color pay-off. For a more subtle approach, I love to incorporate radishes into the small spaces between plants. Because of their quick turnaround time, they are quite charming, low-risk plants. As they mature, splashes of red, pink, or white appear as they shoulder their way up above the soil. If an early frost is predicted, floating row covers and frost cloth can be used to protect against surprise freezes.
If you are not interested in adding edibles into your garden at this point, annuals and gourds are a great way to brighten up your displays. Classics like ornamental kale, cabbage, and pansies are an excellent option to incorporate with other frost-tolerant plants like snapdragons and stock. To add an extra splash of fall color into containers, tuck brightly colored squash and gourds in between plants. If that still leaves you wanting more, perennial asters are another long-blooming and frost-tolerant plant. Be sure to take them out of any containers and add them into your landscape or give them to an avid gardener once they are done blooming!