Native Plants for Fall Bloom 

Native Plants for Fall Bloom 

There are several attractive native plants you might consider 

adding to your home landscape for fall color. This is also an important time to provide food sources for native pollinators that are still active. 

One of the best choices is California fuchsia ( Epilobium canum), which has bright red to orange tube shaped flowers that attract hummingbirds. It is a drought tolerant plant that enjoys full sun. There are several varieties, some having grayish leaves and others that are greener. This is a perennial that keeps its leaves all year but can be cut back severely in the winter to keep it from getting scraggly. It may grow to three feet wide or more, so give it room to spread. It also tends to reseed.

Another great fall bloomer is rabbit brush ( Chrysothamnus) nauseous).  It has yellow blooms and grows to become a small shrub of two to three feet wide and tall. It needs no maintenance and also is evergreen. It has a wispy look with small grayish leaves, but its golden yellow flowers are very attractive to bees. 

A very attractive and long blooming shrub in the sage family is Texas Ranger (Leucophyllum  frutescens). It has pinkish purple blooms 

that are a magnet for bees. It is native to the southwest, thriving in our warm climate, growing  into

a three to five foot tall shrub. It is evergreen, with silvery leaves, needing full sun, and requiring  little maintenance 

except for pruning to shape.  

There is no better pollinator plant than the common sunflower, which blooms into the fall. 

Keep it flowering by removing seed heads. A variety native to the Midwest (Helianthus  maximalans) 

grows well in our area, producing a large bush of yellow blooms 

Another plant that has similar habits is the blanketflower (Gaillardia), which will keep blooming if you dead head . It attracts pollinators and is a bright addition to the landscape.