Top Fall Flowers for Your Garden

New England aster bears loads of pink, blue, purple, and white flowers that are great in the vase or in the garden. Butterflies love it -- and we do, too.

Name: Aster novae-angliae

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 5 inches tall

Zones: 4-8

Native to North America: Yes

Toad lilies keep shady gardens from getting dull at the end of the season. This easy-care perennial offers intricate, orchid-like flowers from late summer to mid-fall.

Name: Tricyrtis hirta

Growing Conditions: Shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: To 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide

Zones: 4-9

Native to North America: No

Fall wouldn't be fall without the cheery yellow flowers of goldenrod. It's a tough, beautiful plant that looks good despite summer heat and drought. Note: Goldenrod isn't typically a source of allergies; this is a common misperception.

Name: Solidago rugosa

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 4 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Native to North America: Yes

It's fun to have some contrast to all the warm autumnal shades. Russian sage does the trick with its airy blue flowers and silvery foliage. Another reason we love it: It's tough as nails and both the foliage and blooms have a great scent.

Name: Perovskia atriplicifolia

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 5 feet tall

Zones: 5-9

Native to North America: No

While most gardeners are familiar with the big-blooming annual sunflowers, it's the perennial selections that are the true garden gems. 'Lemon Queen', for example, produces gorgeous creamy-yellow blooms in late summer and early fall.

Name: Helianthus 'Lemon Queen'

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 8 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Native to North America: Yes

Colchicums look like fall-blooming crocuses on steroids: The big cup-shaped blooms appear seemingly out of nowhere in fall and create a bright show of pink or white.

Name: Colchicum autumnale

Growing Conditions: Sun or shade and well-drained soil

Size: To 6 inches tall

Zones: 4-9

Native to North America: No

One of a group of great native plants in the daisy family, helenium offers cheery yellow, orange, or red blooms at the end of the season. We love how tough and easy-to-grow this plant is.

Name: Helenium autumnale

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 5 feet tall

Zones: 4-8

Native to North America: Yes

One of the quintessential autumn plants, sedum bursts into bloom at summer's end. This tough plant laughs off all summer's heat and drought to look great in your garden at the end of the season.

Name: Sedum spectabile

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 18 inches tall

Zones: 4-9

Native to North America: No

One of the most exotic bulbs, red spider lilies burst out of the ground producing spidery clusters of bright red flowers. After the flowers fade, the plants send up their strappy leaves.

Name: Lycoris radiata

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 2 feet tall

Zones: 8-10

Native to North America: No

A great cut flower, Japanese anemone produces large poppy-shaped pink or white flowers on tall stems at the end of the season. Note: This great bloomer can be a bit of a thug, so plant it where it has lots of room to spread.

Name: Anemone x hybrida

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 5 feet tall

Zones: 4-8

Native to North America: No

A fun plant with a fun name, turtlehead earned its moniker because of the shape of its pink or white blooms. It also has lustrous, glossy green foliage that looks great until frost.

Name: Chelone glabra

Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist soil

Size: To 3 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Native to North America: Yes

Most gardeners are familiar with the spring-blooming crocuses but overlook the fall types. They're perfect for the garden, too.

Name: Crocus speciosus

Growing Conditions: Sun or shade and well-drained soil

Size: To 6 inches tall

Zones: 3-8

Native to North America: No

We love shades of blue, especially paired with yellow and orange. That's what makes monkshood so special: The blue blooms shimmer against all the other fall flowers.

Name: Aconitum carmichaelii

Growing Conditions: Part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: To 6 feet tall

Zones: 3-7

Native to North America: No

One of our favorite ground covers, leadplant is a tough little plant that thrives in sun or shade. (We like it in shade; in sun it has a tendency to spread pretty fast.) It puts on a fall show twice -- first come the electric-blue flowers, then the leaves turn beautiful shades of red.

Name: Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Growing Conditions: Sun or shade and well-drained soil

Size: To 18 inches tall

Zones: 5-9

Native to North America: No

Few plants are as tough and beautiful as sages. Mexican sage is a great choice for ending the season thanks to its downy stems and purple flowers.

Name: Salvia leucantha

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 3 feet tall

Zones: 10-11 (grown as an annual in colder Zones)

Native to North America: Yes

Give your garden structure with this flowering shrub. Native to North America, common witch hazel offers spidery yellow flowers and wonderful golden-yellow fall foliage.

Name: Hamamelis virginiana

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade

Size: To 12 feet tall and wide

Zones: 3-8

Native to North America: Yes

This tough, drought-tolerant perennial looks beautiful for months in summer and fall when it's covered with spikes of lavender-blue, licorice-scented flowers.

Name: Agastache foeniculum

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 5 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Native to North America: Yes

Bearing one of the season's best scents, sweet autumn clematis clothes itself with fragrant white flowers at season's end. Note: This can be a fast-growing, aggressive vine.

Name: Clematis terniflora

Growing Conditions: Sun or part shade and well-drained soil

Size: To 20 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Native to North America: No