How to Choose The Best Fall Color Plants & Where to Place Them on Commercial Landscapes

It’s about time to give your hard-working summer flowers a break.

The beauties have been on the job all season, adding vibrant color, eye-catching appeal and just plain looking pretty.

But they’re getting tired.

Luckily, the second string is ready to duck in, from cheerful pansies to big bursts of mums to cool, ruffly cabbages and kale.

What goes into choosing the perfect fall color plants for your property?

Corey Rill, account manager at Level Green Landscaping, gives us a glimpse.

Why Do You Need Fall Color Plants?

“Fall flowers provide color once the summer flowers have faded,” Rill says. “After the frost, you really have no color left. Fall flowers make your property look great right into winter.”

The weather here in the DC area, Maryland and Virginia is mild enough right through November to enjoy the outdoors, Rill notes. Residents taking evening strolls, customers running errands and workers ducking out for lunch in the sunshine all appreciate cheerful landscaping right into December.

Bonus: pansies and violas add bright fall color, and often bloom again in the spring.

Choosing The Right Location For Seasonal Color Plants

Add bursts of color where it will make the most impact on your landscape.

That might mean the signage at the entrance of an apartment complex or Home Owner’s Association.

It might be flanking the front door of an office building or lining the walkway customers or residents use.

Outdoor seating areas are another prime location, he says, so people settling in for a break or to have lunch enjoy the vibrant view.

You Want Fall Color — But What Color?

Purple pansies or orange? Yellow mums or burgundy? How do you choose the best seasonal color plants?

The color of your building is a great place to start.

“If you have a white stucco building, you don’t want white flowers,” Rill says. “They’ll disappear. “Go for bright reds or purples that offer nice contrast.”

Your company branding offers color guidance, too. Choose flowers to coordinate with your logo, to carry your branding right through to your landscaping.

Rill often uses this strategy with colleges and universities, or to coordinate with a public awareness campaign.

Popular Fall Color Plants

There are many fall color plants to choose from. Here are some of the best:

• Pansies, violas, and panolas (a cross between the two) are a fall color staple available in a rainbow of colors.
• Evergreens provide nice green background color and structure.
• Ivy is a hardy trailing plant that looks great spilling over the edges of planters or elevated beds.
• Mums offer big bursts of color.
• Ornamental cabbage and kale adds interest with their ruffly texture.

Working With Landscaping Budgets

Concerned about your landscape budget?

Rill recommends scaling back the areas for fall color, rather than scrimping on the size of the plant.

“Because fall is a short planting season, I like to use 6-inch rather than 4-inch plants,” he says.

“We can plant in the highest visibility areas and use the best quality plants, so the client and their customers or residents really see the benefit.”

Watering Fall Color Plants

Rill asks fall color customers about their irrigation plan, as these plants need water until they’re established. Do you have on-site irrigation? Or will you need Level Green’s watering service?

After a few weeks, fall plants usually get enough water from fall rain.

Add A Burst Of Seasonal Plant Color With Level Green

Don’t let your property limp into fall without a cheerful burst of color.

We’ll help you choose the plants, colors and design that will keep your landscaping wow-worthy as your summer flowers start to fade.

If you’re not already a Level Green Landscaping client, we’d love to add you to our growing list of happy customers. Our focus is on commercial properties like offices, mixed-use sites, HOAs, municipalities and institutions in Maryland, Washington DC and parts of Virginia.

Contact us at 202-544-0968. You can also request a free consultation online to meet with us one-on-one.

We’d love to hear from you.