10 Flowering Shrubs for Your Fall Garden
Dec 13th 2023
Flowering shrubs add an extra touch of beauty to your garden and boost curb appeal while giving your garden gorgeous color and privacy. Autumn is the prime time to plant these shrubs. Shrubs like camellia, sedum, and flowering quince offer vibrant flowers to complement fall trees. Most of them also perfume the air with their amazing fragrance. Many flowering shrubs can also be grown in containers to add color to your patio, front porch, or deck.
Here are the ten best flowering shrubs to add to your fall garden for gorgeous blooms in spring or summer.
1. Asters
USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 to 8
Exposure: Full sun
Asters are the old standby flowering plants that avid gardeners love to use for fall color. They are late bloomers that will transform your garden smoothly from summer to fall. Asters are daisy-like flowers in various hues, including blue, pink, white, and purple. These flowering shrubs also attract a lot of pollinators, allowing you to enjoy both stunning blooms and their visitors. In addition, they can be spread by rhizomes and seeds, so you can grow them in containers to prevent them from spreading too much.
2. Daphne
USDA Hardiness Zone: 6 to 9
Exposure: Full sun, afternoon shade in warm climates
Daphne is an attractive flowering shrub that is popular for its intense fragrance. You can plant them near your walkways or patio so you can enjoy their ethereal aroma on sunny days. Their fruity scented flowers in white, pink, or lavender colors bloom in late winter or early spring. These appealing shrubs maintain a nice shape even without pruning and can perfume your entire yard. In addition, this evergreen shrub is carefree once it’s established and is also deer resistant.
3. Forsythia
USDA Hardiness Zone: 5 to 8
Exposure: Full sun
Forsythia blooming is a sign of spring's arrival. This is the best fast-growing flowering shrub for a fall garden that has vibrant canary yellow blooms. They look like the first ray of sunlight after a long gray winter, which makes this shrub worth planting. You can plant these eye-catching shrubs in mixed borders or as accents. Forsythia blooms in early spring for a period of one to two weeks before the shrub has leaves.
4. Flowering Quince
USDA Hardiness Zone: 5 to 9
Exposure: Full sun
Flowering quince features stunning, vibrant flowers in shades of orange, red, peach, or scarlet. This deciduous shrub blooms in late winter to early spring. They are low maintenance, easy to grow, tolerant of heat, and can grow in a variety of soil types, which makes them a versatile flowering plant to add to your fall garden. They are perfect for screens, barriers, or hedges for the front or backyard.
Learn about Fall Planting for Beauty and Pollination!
5. Camellia
USDA Hardiness Zone: 5 to 9
Exposure: Partial to full shade
Camellia features lovely rose-like blooms in shades of pink, red, or white, which makes them a standout in the winter. This evergreen shrub blooms in winter when other flowering shrubs are dormant. You can enjoy the stunning flowers in your garden from November through May. This broad-leafed shrub's glossy, rich green leaves are also attractive year-round. Plant camellia in groups for a gorgeous hedge or screen.
6. Rhododendrons
USDA Hardiness Zone: 4 to 8
Exposure: Partial to full sun
This flowering shrub is known for its magnificent spring flowers. Many varieties of rhododendrons are evergreen and bloom year-round. They have glossy green leaves that look beautiful with colorful blooms. New varieties of rhododendrons are more cold hardy. This prolific plant is prone to high growth and can reach a height of up to ten feet or more with time. They make lovely hedges and grow best under a canopy of trees.
7. Chrysanthemums
USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 to 9
Exposure: Full sun
Chrysanthemums or mums are a flowering shrub that will be a great addition to any fall garden. They come in every rainbow color and are easy to care for. However, make sure to provide enough water. These perennials will make a statement in your landscape. Although they're perennials, they won't return next spring unless you plant them long before fall. You will enjoy a beautiful display of color all season long.
8. Sedum
USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 to 9
Exposure: Full sun
Sedums are low-maintenance and beautiful flowering shrubs with thick leaves and star-shaped flowers blooming in early fall and late summer. They require very little care and would prefer to avoid getting frequent water, which fits most gardeners' requirements with busy schedules. There are many varieties of sedums. However, the autumn variety stands out for its upright form and bright pink flowers. Their blooms last for weeks and attract pollinators. You can grow these shrubs as ground covers, in the middle of the border plants, or on the edges of rock gardens.
9. Lilac
USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 to 8
Exposure: Full sun, can tolerate light shade
Lilac is one of the best flowering shrubs that is well-known for its old-fashioned scent. On a warm sunny day in May, open your windows, and you will be greeted by the distinctive, intoxicating fragrance of springtime blooming lilacs. Their sweet scent indicates that summer is about to come. Therefore, plant this best-smelling shrub where you can enjoy its charming heart-shaped leaves and aroma. Reblooming varieties of lilacs bloom once in spring and then again in summer and fall. Many new species of this shrub are small and rebloom in the middle of summer.
10. Korean Spice Viburnum
USDA Hardiness Zone: 4 to 8
Exposure: Partial to full sun
Last on our list is Korean Spice Viburnum, a striking shrub that boasts clusters of pale pink buds in early spring that open to reveal domed clusters of pink or white colored flowers. However, a feature that makes this remarkable plant a delightful addition to a fall garden is its heady scent, which resembles spice cake. Korean spice viburnum is deer-resistant, and its fragrance signals that spring is approaching. Plant this gorgeous flowering shrub where you can enjoy its beauty and fragrance.
The Bottom Line
We hope you have found flowering plants to fill out your fall garden with alluring blooms, stunning colors, and delightful fragrances. Plant these shrubs in fall or spring to enjoy the glorious show from early spring to late fall and even in gloomy winters. These low-maintenance and easy-to-care shrubs will spruce up your garden and make it an eye-catching focal point.
Visit our blog for plenty of helpful guides on Fall Gardening and Winter Gardening!