What I'm Planting This Fall

I pulled out Rose of Sharon invasives along my property lines this year — now I'm replacing them with a mix of evergreen and flowering shrubs that will look good year-round and actually stay put

Buttonbush for the wet spots — one of the only native shrubs that thrives in low, poorly drained ground

Cephalanthus occidentalis; unique white spherical summer blooms beloved by pollinators, winter seeds feed birds

Baby Kim® Lilac ×2 — I've always wanted to try lilacs and this compact variety is one of the few bred to actually re-bloom in Southern heat

Syringa x 'SMNSDTP'; fragrant and tidy, great along a fence or border

Blueberries for the kids — a southern highbush variety bred for our zone

Vaccinium ashei 'Vernon'; plant at least two varieties near each other for cross-pollination and a full harvest

Don's Variegated Native Azalea for year-round interest — the cream-edged foliage carries through fall and winter, the spring bloom is the bonus

A native cultivar; different from the common hybrid azaleas most nurseries sell

Southern Wax Myrtle and Compact Cherry Laurel for the evergreen backbone — fast, low-maintenance, and birds use them all winter

Myrica cerifera + Prunus caroliniana 'Compacta'; both excellent low-maintenance Zone 8a natives

My tulips, daffodils, and allium are perennialized and coming back on their own — so this year I'm filling in what's missing: earlier bloomers and a few things I've never tried

Snowdrops for the first time — the first flower of the year, often blooming before February, spreading slowly into drifts over time

Galanthus Flore Pleno (double) and G. nivalis; plant in partial shade now

Adding more anemone St. Brigid and ranunculus this year — I already have both in the ground but they don't last long, so I add more corms each fall to keep the supply up

Soak anemone corms overnight before planting; ranunculus establishes slowly and blooms late spring — both worth repeating every year

Spider lilies (Lycoris radiata) with low expectations for year one — they almost always skip a bloom after being moved, then appear in September out of nowhere on bare stems

Don't be discouraged if nothing blooms the first year

Bells of Ireland, orlaya, forget-me-nots, strawflower, nigella, poppies, sweet peas, corncockle, Dara, bachelor buttons, crimson clover, and lupine — scatter on any day the ground isn't frozen, now through January

I overseed generously and call it chaos gardening — plants self-thin, find their best spots, and you end up with combinations you never would have planned

Sweet peas want cold stratification — fall sowing gives them exactly that. Never start sweet peas indoors in warmth

Sow along a trellis now; they'll be the first climbers up in spring

If you expect prolonged hard freezes, wait until February for the tender ones — a light frost won't hurt most of these

Garlic goes in now too — pulling cloves from last year's harvest to replant. You can also source from a farmers market or nursery if you're starting fresh

Plant individual cloves pointed end up, 2 inches deep. They'll establish over winter and be ready to harvest next summer

Sugar snap peas at the trellis, carrots, radishes, mixed greens, kale, cilantro, dill, and chamomile — scatter and water

Also throwing in old broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage seeds with low expectations — better started in July or from transplants, but old seeds are cheap bets

If they come up, great. If not, I'll grab starts in January

Greens and root vegetables want Zone 8a fall weather. Keep sowing as long as the ground isn't frozen

Paperwhite Ziva is the fastest: pot now and you'll have blooms in 4–6 weeks. Very fragrant — one pot fills a room. Add a little gravel in the water to keep the stems from flopping

Amaryllis Replay is going in first — water once, bright spot, eight weeks, spectacular. It's a re-blooming variety so it'll come back next year too

Amaryllis Snow Drift gets potted a few weeks after Replay for a staggered bloom window through the holidays

Classic creamy white flowers; treat the same as Replay

After amaryllis blooms indoors, I plant the bulb outside — it naturalizes well in Zone 8a and comes back each year. Don't throw it out when the bloom is done

If you have amaryllis bulbs from last year sitting dormant, now is the time to bring them back — move to a warm bright spot and start watering again