The fall garden The Fall Garden Fall is a largely overlooked season in our part of the coastal South. While the native species can be overly rambunctious in the garden, these plants are innocent of causing autumn allergy miseries, since their pollen is not windborne in significant amounts. Seedheads are also decorative when backlit by the slanting rays of fall sunshine.
Chrysanthemums make effective potted accents but are problematic as garden plants.
A sunny, well-drained spot is required and plants are more vigorous if divided or restarted from cuttings annually. We have tried several perennial varieties including 'Hillside Pink Sheffield' and the fragrant 'Mei-Kyo', but both are sluggish growers in this climate. It spreads to the point of invasiveness in moist garden soil, so we confine it to drier conditions in the vegetable frame. The foliage may turn an interesting shade of muted metallic purple in fall. In Perennial Garden Color , author William Welch lists autumn aster as the one reliable aster he's found for the Gulf South.