Your garden changes with the season and so should the plants that add to your home’s curb appeal. The front yard, porch, and front entrance are all great opportunities to highlight fall plants and spectacular autumnal color for a truly show-stopping display.
If you're looking to make an impact in your front yard this fall, then choosing the right fall-blooming flowers and plants is essential. Here are some of the most fabulous fall plants to boost your curb appeal this season (and all year round).
1. Hardy Mums
Chrysanthemums are the quintessential fall flowers. They come in a variety of autumn hues, including brick red, golden yellow, burnt orange, and cream. They also last well into the fall or even early winter in some areas.
You can find hardy mums this time of year nearly everywhere, from your grocery store to the local nursery or garden center. You can even shop mums online from Walmart.
Though these ubiquitous fall flowers are perennials, most people grow them as annuals. You can keep them in containers or add them to beds for another colorful display next autumn.
Fall mums look lovely when mounded in colorful clumps or as edges around garden beds. Grow mums in pots as festive front door décor alongside pumpkins or corn stalks.
Provide mums with plenty of water in well-drained soil and in a spot with full sun or partial shade. Deadhead mums as flowers fade to encourage more blooms.
2. Marigolds
Marigolds are native to hot climates, but they are suitable annuals nearly anywhere and actually thrive and flower well into fall in many areas. They’ll bloom up to the first frost, so grow marigolds in containers on the front porch or line your front yard garden bed with these cheerful flowers.
The colors of marigolds are perfect for fall. You can find various petal types and bloom shapes in rich shades of red, orange, and yellow. Explore a variety of different marigolds for sale at the Home Depot.
Marigolds are not fussy about growing conditions as long as they receive full sun. Keep deadheading marigolds by pinching off spent blooms to prolong the fall flowering period.
3. New England Asters
New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) is a fall-blooming perennial suitable that's for USDA growing zones 4 through 8. These plants are true show-stoppers with mounds of abundant, daisy-like blooms in blue, pink, purple, or white.
In the cooler parts of its range, you can plant this aster from spring to fall. In warmer areas, plant in the fall. Summer temperatures can be damaging as the plant becomes established.
Plant New England asters in full sun and acidic soil with good drainage. Use quality potting mix or add compost or fertilizer to the soil to create a fertile mix, as these flowers are heavy feeders.
Use these late summer flowers for pots that look amazing through fall or plant them in the ground to add a wow factor to your front yard that will return year after year.
Shop New England aster seeds and live plants on Amazon.
4. Black-Eyed Susans
Another perennial with great fall color is the black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). These knockout native flowers bloom in summer and well into fall and are hardy in zones 3 through 9.
Grow them in front beds, along walkways, or in groups of mass plantings for a whimsical cottage garden style. Black-eyed Susan flowers best in full sun but aren’t picky about soil and don’t need fertilizer.
For autumn colors, it’s hard to beat the black-eyed Susan. The classic type is golden yellow with a dark center, but you can find plenty of black-eyed Susan varieties in pretty fall shades.
‘Cherry Brandy’ has deep red flowers, ‘Prairie Sun’ has orange and yellow petals, and the petals of ‘Toto Rustic’ are burgundy with gold tips. For the ultimate fall color, try ‘Autumn Colors’ rudbeckia from Home Depot. This stunning cultivar has golden orange petals touched with rust and bronze.
5. Panicle Hydrangeas
For a show-stopping fall shrub, you can’t do much better than a panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata).
Sometimes grown as tree-form hydrangeas, these large shrubs grow up to 15 feet (4.6 m) tall. What makes them so spectacular for fall, however, is their abundance of creamy cone-shaped flower clusters that transition to deep pink in fall.
Panicle hydrangeas are easy to grow in zones 3 through 9. They grow in full sun or partial shade in well-drained soil with light moisture.
For the best curb appeal, use a mix of different panicle hydrangea varieties as a foundation planting around your house or as a hedge at the border of your property.
Explore gorgeous panicle hydrangeas in the Gardening Know How Shop.
6. Fothergilla
Fothergilla is a southeastern U.S. native shrub with great fall color. Appropriate for zones 5 through 8, dwarf varieties only grow about three feet (0.9 m) tall, so you can use them as front foundation plantings or as a low hedge.
The fall color on fothergilla is truly spectacular. The green leaves progress through shades of red, orange, and yellow, providing a show-stopping mix of color.
Fothergilla will grow in partial shade, but its fall colors truly shine in full sun. Plant in soil that is organically rich, acidic, and moist with excellent drainage.
Shop high-quality fothergilla plants from Green Promise Farms on Amazon.
7. Japanese Maples
Japanese maple trees (Acer palmatum) are popular ornamentals for curb appeal because they have unique growing habits, feathery leaves, and a compact size.
They are also one of the best trees for fall color. While some types are red throughout the growing season, some Japanese maple varieties shift color in autumn, turning bright orange, yellow, or bronze.
Use a Japanese maple as a front bed specimen or accent tree. You can grow it in beds in the lawn or, thanks to its small size, close to the front of the house. Japanese maples are hardy in zones 5 through 9 and grow best in partial shade and acidic, well-drained soil.
Shop brilliantly-colored Japanese maples from Fast Growing Trees.
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