These 9 Annuals Add Bold Color to Your Fall Garden

Even when summer’s over, there are still plenty of colorful plants you can enjoy in your garden before winter sets in. While trees and shrubs start showing off their fall foliage and fall-blooming perennials get going, you can add even more color to your garden by planting a few cold-tolerant annuals. They’re perfect for swapping out tired plants in your summer container gardens, tucking into beds and borders for seasonal interest, or adding a fresh look to your front door, patio, or deck for the fall.

Use these fall annuals to fill in any blank spaces in your landscape as your garden transitions from summer to autumn.

1. Pansy

This popular cold-tolerant plant’s cheery, edible flowers come in just about every color, including red, orange, yellow, white, purple, blue, and nearly black as shown here. Pansies are often grown as annuals, especially when used in container gardens, but they’re actually short-lived perennials that are hardy in Zones 6-11. They’ll survive the winter in these regions if planted in the ground, blooming again the following spring. Plant them in a spot with full to partial sun about 6-8 weeks before your area’s first frost date.

2. Strawflower

Strawflower isn’t only colorful—it adds gorgeous texture to your garden. It has stiff, paper-like petals, which make the blooms especially useful for dried floral crafts. Strawflowers usually appear in shades of yellow, orange, red, pink, and white. Plant them in an area with full sun and well-drained soil. Strawflower doesn’t tolerate frost, so protect it from freezing temperatures for long-lasting, continuous blooms.

3. Ornamental Peppers

These tough annuals will spice up any garden. Ornamental peppers are easy to grow for their colorful fruits in shades of red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and even black. Some ornamental peppers are spicy hot, while others have non-pungent fruits and are safe to grow around small children.

In addition to their fruits, some varieties show off their colorful variegated foliage as well. Plant in full sun and well-drained soil. Like strawflowers, these fall annuals don’t tolerate frost well, so they’ll need to be covered or protected when that time comes.

4. Flowering Kale

Although flowering kale is related to the types of kale you’d grow for eating, it’s more commonly an ornamental rather than an edible plant because it has thick, tough leaves. And despite the name, this kale doesn’t technically flower, but the inner leaves often are white, pink, or purple. Pair it with mixed pansies, and you’ll have a pretty seasonal display that will hold up well to freezing temperatures. Plant in full sun for the best coloring.

5. Calibrachoa

Calibrachoa is another favorite annual flower known for its bright colors and easy care. While it’s generally considered a summer annual, calibrachoa also holds up well to cold temperatures. It’s a staple for fall annual container gardens and looks especially pretty spilling from a hanging basket. The jewel-tone flowers come in nearly every color, so they coordinate well with just about any design theme you can imagine. Just be sure to plant in a spot with full sun and well-drained soil.

6. Calendula

Calendula comes in cheery orange, yellow, and white hues, making it the perfect flower for fall displays. Also known as pot marigold, calendula blooms best in the cooler weather of fall and spring. Seed heads will form and eventually drop to the ground to self-seed, but this plant doesn’t get out of control. Plant calendula along the border of your garden or in a mixed container.

7. Sweet Alyssum

Also popular in spring gardens, sweet alyssum is a hardy annual that can handle light frost. Its frothy flowers have a sweet scent and attract pollinators. The flowers are typically white, which mixes and matches easily with other fall-blooming plants, but some varieties boast deep purple, light pink, and peach-colored blooms.

8. Snapdragon

This cool-season annual comes in nearly every color of the rainbow. Plant snapdragons in containers with other fall-blooming plants or in your garden for some late season color. Place them in full sun with moist, well-draining soil to grow the best blooms.

9. Flossflower

Also called ageratum, flossflower adds a pastel pop of color to gardens. With flowers that resemble pom-poms, flossflower comes in soft blue, purple, pink, and white. Often grown as a summer annual, flossflower will continue blooming well into fall, especially if deadheaded.