As the title suggests this is a list of seven ideas of ways to create an alluring autumn garden. There are some interesting ideas several of which you may have come across before, but what is new in this piece is linking each idea with an appropriate seasonal quote. I found this article by Jan Johnsen on the Garden Design Magazine website.

October is here and, in certain parts of the U.S., the nights become cool and the sun, being lower in the sky, throws a vivid spotlight on trees and shrubs as they change into their cloaks of color. The days sparkle with autumn sunlight and leaves, berries, cabbages, mums, and pumpkins capture our attention. We revel in this fleeting moment, knowing that autumn is, as William Cullen Bryant described, “the year?s last loveliest smile.”

“There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky…” ?Percy Bysshe Shelley (Photo by: Jan Johnsen.)

Have a bench? Let a friendly scarecrow take a seat. This one is not stuffed with straw but it evokes the same feeling. Replace your summer flowers with a deep red chrysanthemum as shown here. The contrast of the light-colored planter, red flowers, and dark evergreen background make a striking display. The bag of tulip bulbs on the bench is temporary?they are to be planted for next spring?s eye-catching display.

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it….” ?George Eliot (Photo by: Jan Johnsen.)

Anemone x hybrida (Japanese anemones), known as windflowers, are the stars of a fall flower garden. These Asian natives are perennials that bear large, single or double, cup-shaped blossoms featuring satiny petals and a gold central button. The pink ‘Queen Charlotte’ has flowers on 3-to-4-foot-tall stems in mid fall. Fall-blooming windflowers are hardy in Zones 5 through 9 and can add color to your garden from late summer to late fall. They thrive in full sun to part shade.

“I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.” ?Nathaniel Hawthorne (Photo by: Jan Johnsen.)

Limelight? Hydrangea is an outstanding, hardy, and carefree shrub that continues to attract attention all the way into fall. Its chartreuse-to-lime flowers appear in early to midsummer and cover the 6-to-8-foot-tall shrub. As they mature, the large, 8-inch-long flowers darken to all shades of pink, and in the fall turn a rich rosy hue. When the blossoms fade, the Limelight? foliage turns a burnished red. Grow them in Zones 4 through 8, in sun to light shade.

See more at Garden Design Magazine