A well-designed garden is a year-round pleasure, with each season offering its own highlights. Spring bursts forth with fresh growth and blossom, summer dazzles with long days and abundant flowers, and winter, when carefully planned, has its structure and silhouettes. But this week, we’re turning our attention to the garden in autumn – a season that brings its own unique richness, warmth, and beauty.

Why Autumn Gardens Are Special

Autumn has a magic all of its own. The light softens, colours intensify, and there’s a sense of calm as nature begins to wind down. Gardens in autumn can glow with fiery foliage, bursts of late-season flowers, and the deep greens of evergreens that will stand strong right through into winter. It’s also a season of generosity: plants offering seeds and fruits for wildlife, and borders that provide beauty for us while supporting the natural world.

Monarda 'Balmy Purple', Heuchera 'Cherry Berry' and Heuchera 'Marmalade' (left) & Heuchera 'Wild Berry' with Pittosporum ' Bannow Bay' (Right) - photo taken at Ardcarne Garden Centre, Boyle, 29/08/2025

Planting for an Autumn Aesthetic

1. Deciduous Trees & Shrubs with Glorious Foliage

• Acer palmatum (Japanese Maple) – renowned for fiery reds, oranges, and yellows.
• Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweet Gum) – rich, wine-dark shades.
• Parrotia persica (Persian Ironwood) – a tapestry of scarlet, gold, and purple.
• Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo) – grown for its autumn colour as leaves turn orange and red before falling.
• Fuchsia - varieties like 'Mrs Popple' offer red and purple flowers well into autumn.

2. Perennials & Shrubs That Flower in Autumn

• Asters (Michaelmas Daisies) – clouds of purple, pink, or white that last well into October.
• Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan) - yellow daisy-like flowers will continue to bloom into October and look great alongside those purple asters.
• Sedum (Stonecrop) – domes of dusky pink flowers, beloved by bees.
• Japanese Anemone – elegant flowers held on wiry stems, in pink or white.
• Hydrangea paniculata – with blooms that blush from white into pinks and russets as the season deepens.

Japanese Anemone in front of a backdrop of Acer Palmatum Dissectum - photo taken at Ardcarne Garden Centre 29/08/2025

3. Evergreens for Structure and Interest

• Heuchera (Coral Bells) – offer foliage interest in a range of colours whilst providing ground-cover.
• Leucothoe (Dog Hobble) - glossy foliage that turns shades of red in autumn and winter.
• Holly (Ilex aquifolium) – glossy leaves and berries that shine in low light.
• Sarcococca (Sweet Box) – dark foliage now, with the promise of winter fragrance.
• Pittosporum – adding both texture and an elegant evergreen presence.

Planting for Wildlife in Autumn

While spring and summer brim with nectar-rich flowers, autumn can be leaner for pollinators – which is why plants like sedum, asters, and late-flowering salvias are so valuable now. They not only extend the season of colour but also offer vital nourishment for bees, butterflies, and hoverflies before winter sets in.

Autumn is also a season of seeds and berries. Many plants provide a natural larder for birds, and including them in your garden is both beautiful and beneficial. Great choices include:

• Sunflowers – seed heads loved by finches.
• Teasel – a magnet for goldfinches.
• Echinacea – seed heads provide food and structure.
• Rudbeckia – dark seed centres are a feast for small birds.
• Roses – hips add both colour and food.

Beyond planting, you can boost your garden’s role as a haven for wildlife by adding bird feeders, insect hotels, log piles, and water sources. These touches not only support garden biodiversity but also bring life and movement to your outdoor space as autumn flows into winter.

Teasel seed-heads, as well as being attractive in the garden, are loved by Goldfinches in particular - Image by Zenaga from Pixabay

Final Thoughts

Designing a garden with autumn in mind ensures that this season shines as brightly as any other. With thoughtful planting, you can enjoy glowing foliage, late-season flowers, and the strong presence of evergreens. At the same time, your garden becomes a refuge for wildlife, offering food and shelter at a time of year when resources are scarcer.

As for trends, we’re noticing more gardeners embracing naturalistic planting, allowing grasses, seed heads, and wilder borders to stand through autumn and into winter. This not only looks wonderfully atmospheric in the shifting light but also provides habitats for insects and seed for birds.

So whether you’re planting a new tree for fiery autumn colour, refreshing a border with late-blooming perennials, or setting up a feeder station for visiting finches, there’s much you can do to make your garden glow this season. Autumn may be the gateway to winter, but it’s also one of the most beautiful and rewarding times to enjoy your garden.