15 Fall Annuals That Add Color and Texture to Your Autumn Garden

Calendula

Also known as pot marigold, Calendula officinalis blooms in spring, slows during hot weather, and rebounds in a big way in fall, especially if you provide water and shade through the heat of summer. Deep orange and gold-flowering varieties make it perfect for fall bouquets and gardens, but it’s also pretty in peach, pink, red, and cream.

Calendula grows from big seeds and germinates quickly, making it an easy flower to sow directly in the garden or in containers, says Robin Trott, a horticulture educator with the University of Minnesota Extension.

• Zones: 9 to 11; grown as an annual in Zones 2 through 11
• Size: 1 to 3 feet tall x 1 to 2 feet wide
• Growing conditions: Sun to part sun; well-draining soil
  

Celosia (Flamingo Feather)

Celosia spicata produces feathery, silvery pink plumes that rustle in the wind, adding endless elegance to beds and borders. Also known as cockscomb, this beauty blooms from spring until first frost and works well both fresh and dried as a cut flower.

•  Zones: 10 to 11; grown as an annual in Zones 2 through 11
• Size: 2 to 4 feet tall x 1 to 2 feet wide
• Growing conditions: Full sun; moist, well-draining soil
  

Cilantro

Fast-growing Coriandrum sativum is a spring favorite that can be planted again in fall after summer temperatures have cooled. Its lacy leaves are pretty in the garden or in containers and its savory, fresh flavor adds punch to pesto and salsa, says Sheri Dorn, horticulturist with the University of Georgia Extension.

Let your cilantro plants produce their dainty white flowers to add even more interest in your fall garden or containers and offer food to pollinators, Dorn says. The leaves will lose a little of their flavor, but if your season is long enough, the plant will produce coriander seeds inside hard, round husks, which you can dry and use for cooking.

• Zones: Grown as an annual in Zones 2 through 11
• Size: 1 to 2 feet tall x 1 to 1 ½ feet wide
• Growing conditions: Sun (with afternoon shade in hotter regions) ; loose, loamy, well-draining soil

Coleus

A herbaceous perennial that’s usually grown as an annual, Plectranthus scutellarioides blankets your garden or cascades from containers in rich shades of pink, purple, red, green, yellow, and yellow-green chartreuse, becoming more lush as the season progresses.

It also comes in a wide range of shapes and sizes, giving you lots of options for garden placement, Trott says. "The shorter, 6-inch plants make a really good front-of-the-garden border, but it can also be the rock star in your garden because it can be very tall and have so much variety in its texture and color," she says.

• Zones: 10 to 11; grown as an annual in Zones 2 through 11
• Size: 6 to 36 inches tall x 6 to 36 inches wide
• Growing conditions: Part shade to full shade; rich, moist, well-draining soil

Dill

Anethum graveolens loves temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees. And while some varieties grow tall and tend to lean over without support, compact dwarf varieties are bushier and work especially well in containers.

Dill is also a fantastic habitat for Eastern Black Swallow butterflies, whose life cycles—from eggs to hungry caterpillars to chrysalises to butterflies—take place on the plants. "It’s very fun to watch," Dorn says.

• Zones: 9 to 11; grown as an annual in zones 2 through 11
• Size: 6 inches to 5 feet tall x 6 inches to 3 feet wide
• Growing conditions: Sun; well-draining soil
  

Dusty Miller

Sun-loving Jacobaea maritima has fuzzy, silvery leaves that look great with just about any other color in the garden. Planted in fall in Dorn’s region (just south of Atlanta, Georgia), it will grow happily until spring unless there’s a surprise frost.

"Whether it's in a planting bed or a container, maybe at your mailbox or the front entrance of your home, it becomes a key focal point," she says.

• Zones: 7 to 11; grown as an annual in Zones 2 through 11
• Size: 1 to 2 feet tall x 1 to 2 feet wide
• Growing conditions: Full sun; almost any well-draining soil

Lettuce (Speckled Trout)

Forellenschluss tolerates light frost, and its lime-green leaves splashed with maroon add so much character to the fall garden. Dorn suggests planting it with pansies in similar colors, perhaps in small beds near an entry. "Someplace where you're going to come in frequently or you're going to have guests coming by, and you just want something special," she says.

You’ll also love its tender, crispy, buttery leaves in autumn salads.

• Zones: Grown as an annual in Zones 2 through 11
• Size: 8 to 12 inches tall x 6 to 10 inches wide
• Growing conditions: Sun to part shade; rich, loose, well-draining soil
  

Mustard (Osaka Purple)

Start Brassica juncea from seed 4 to 6 weeks before first frost to enjoy its big, beautiful, violet-purple leaves in your landscape, Dorn says. She pairs it with pink flowering plants and notes that while it’s an easy-care plant, you’ll want to remove leaves as they yellow to keep your garden looking and smelling fresh. Better yet, harvest its baby leaves to add a wasabi-like kick to burgers, sandwiches, and salads.

• Zones: Grown as an annual in Zones 2 through 11
• Size: 12 to 24 inches tall x 12 to 24 inches wide
• Growing conditions: Full sun to partial shade; well-draining soil
  

Nasturtium

Available in saturated shades of orange, red, yellow, and pink, and with solid or variegated leaves, Tropaeolum majus brings so many options to your fall landscape. You can use compact, mounding varieties in beds and borders, train climbing varieties against a lattice support, or choose trailing varieties to dress up containers and window boxes. Pollinators love its nectar, and you can pluck its edible flowers to dress up cakes, cocktails, and salads.

• Zones: 9 to 11; grown as an annual in Zones 2 through 11
• Size: 6 inches to 12 feet tall x 12 to 18 inches wide
• Growing conditions: Sun; moist, well-draining soil

Ornamental Cabbage and Kale

Ornamental cabbage and kale, both categorized as Brassica oleracea, grow in gorgeous shades of silvery purple, blue, green, rose, and creamy white, producing their best colors after the cool and even cold days and nights of fall.

"You can enjoy these plants en masse, just like you would plant a whole flower bed, or you can enjoy them in containers and in smaller plantings," Dorn says. "There's so much leaf texture, so much leaf shape, and there are so many different colors."

• Zones: Grown as an annual in Zones 2 to 11
• Size: 12 to 18 inches tall x 12 to 18 inches wide
• Growing conditions: Full sun (with afternoon shade in hotter regions); rich, loamy, well-draining soil
  

Pansy

Cheery Viola x wittrockiana hangs tough in chilly northern autumns and can last all through winter in southern states. It also brings so many color options to gardens and containers, including purple, blue, red, white, mahogany, bronze, orange, black, yellow, and apricot. Plant en masse in just one or two colors for maximum visual impact, Dorn says.  

• Zones: 6 to 10; grown as an annual in Zones 2 to 11
• Size: 4 to 8 inches tall x 4 to 8 inches wide
• Growing conditions: partial sun; rich, well-draining soil
  

Snapdragon

While most of us think of Antirrhinum majus as a spring flower, you’ll find this cool-weather bloomer again in autumn in southern garden centers. Farther north, you can keep it watered through summer to enjoy a second round of flowers in fall.

Trott likes the Chantilly cultivar for its striking, open-faced flowers and frost tolerance. Another favorite: Madame Butterfly Cherry Bronze, an azalea-type snapdragon with full, double petals and a luscious apricot-rose hue.

• Zones: 7 to 10; grown as an annual in Zones 2 to 11
• Size: 4 to 4 ½ feet tall x 6 to 18 inches wide
• Growing conditions: Sun to part shade; well-draining soil

Sunflower

Upbeat Helianthus annuus can add joy to your landscape until frost and is available in a range of forms, sizes, and colors. In addition to the classic gold and brown variety you already know and love, look for cultivars with multiple blooms per stem and in different colors including white, pale green, red, mahogany, and chocolate.

Among Trott’s favorites: The Joker, which has a huge red-ringed yellow bloom, and the dwarf variety Teddy Bear, which produces multiple fluffy gold blooms.

Consider growing some classics for pollinators and some in the ProCut Series, which brings all the beauty without the yellow pollen, for arrangements, she adds.

• Zones: Grown as an annual in Zones 2 to 11
• Size: 2 to 15 feet tall x 1½ to 3 feet wide
• Growing conditions: Full sun; well-draining soil
  

Sweet Alyssum

Easy-care and frost tolerant, Lobularia maritima can be invasive in warmer zones but is a favorite in colder climates like Trott’s part of Minnesota, where it provides mounds of color in spring and again in fall.

Also known as carpet flower, Sweet Alyssum works as a beautiful filler in containers. "But it’s also great as a bedding plant and a border plant amongst different plants to provide a pop of color and a soft and fuzzy texture that makes the garden more interesting," says Trott.

• Zones: 9 to 11; grown as an annual in Zones 2 to 11
• Size: 3 to 10 inches tall x 2 to 4 inches wide
• Growing conditions: Full to partial sun; moist, well-draining soil
  

Sweet William

Clove-scented Sweet William pops with color in the fall garden, most often in vibrant shades of pink, red, and lavender. Trott and her husband grow this popular Dianthus as an annual on their flower farm, Prairie Garden Farm, where monarchs cover its blooms in late summer and early fall, feasting before their migratory journey to Mexico. It’s easy to start from seed, she says, and a bit of frost tolerance means it can keep on blooming even after a cold night.

• Zones: 3 to 9; grown as an annual in Zones 2 to 11
• Size: 4 to 32 inches tall x 6 to 36 inches wide
• Growing conditions: Sun or partial shade; well-draining soil