Top 10 Fall Flowers for Your Garden

Many mark Labor Day weekend as an end to summer but warm sunny weather can continue on way past September. There are many perennials to keep the color going in your backyard right up until the first frost. Many of these flowers have long, hardy stems and work great for bouquets too.  And while the birds, bees, and butterflies will thank you, many of these plants are deer resistant.Balloon Flowers are profuse lavender/blue bloomers that are virtually maintenance-free. The buds will actually puff up like balloons until they pop open, revealing the beautiful bell-shaped flowers. Balloon flowers are deer resistant.Bugbane can grow to about 6 feet tall with wispy white flower spikes that can smell a lot like honey.Helenium is part of the sunflower family and produces masses of pretty, daisy-like flowers in shades of vivid yellow, orange, red, and bi-color.  Sometimes called Sneezeweed because at one time it was used as snuff. It looks similar to cone flowers. It is deer resistant.Japanese Anemones start blooming in late summer and lasts until the frost. These delicate paper-like white blooms are maintenance-free and will self-sow. Japanese anemone spreads by underground runners, so keep an eye on your plants to be sure they aren’t crowding nearby perennials. They are also deer resistant.Pineapple Sage is a hummingbird magnet. It’s bright red blooms need full sun and moist soil.Purple Asters with their dainty lilac petals and yellow button centers grow to about 2-3 feet tall and are draught tolerant. These daisy-like flowers grow in sun or partial shade.Russian sage starts off as a barely perceptible hint of blue before erupting into a hazy cloud of purple-blue that lasts for weeks. Not at all a sage, it is actually a member of the mint family and is deer resistant.Sedum is a succulent that comes in a variety of colors that sit on top of a 2-foot tall stalk. Loved by butterflies, it requires little watering.  Best of all, these flowers dry in early winter. When the plants becomes too large, they are easy to divide.Sunflowers are most often thought of as the tall bright yellow giants of summer. But there are perennial sunflowers that bloom towards the end of summer, giving your yard smaller but plentiful bright yellow, daisy-like flowers.Sweet Alyssum is a wonderfully fragrant plant. Unlike many tall fall flowers, sweet alyssum forms a low to the ground, lush carpet of white, pink, or purple.