Top Flowers for Fall Color

Garden Mums

Many of us grew up thinking mums were the autumn perennials. We bedded them out, enjoyed their color for a few weeks in fall, then felt ripped off when they didn't bloom again in spring like pansies. So we dismissed them as too much trouble. In the process, however, we forgot about the good garden mums -- the abundant, mounding, durable types that bloom for decades with minimal care.

I especially like daisy-type mums in the peachy-apricot-orange range. We covet the peach-orange blooms of 'Pumpkin Harvest' and the apricot-pinks of old 'Sheffield Pink.' We also tout the new My Favorite Mum Series, particularly 'Autumn Red.' Without the slightest pruning, it forms a solid mound 18 inches tall and 36 inches wide and bears thousands of showy red blossoms with yellow centers. It's a champ.