Lackluster mums aren’t the only option for fall color

    I have shared controversial garden opinions here before, but brace yourself for what may be my most unpopular.
    I don’t like garden mums.
    Even people who don’t know a single plant name know what a garden mum is because they are ubiquitous this time of year. They are on racks outside grocery stores, blocking the doors to big box stores and practically falling off trucks at garden centers where they are delivered in a nearly constant stream.
    They are round blobs of stems sticking out of too-small plastic pots that will require water just about every day. If you forget, you’ll find a limp plant that may or may not recover but won’t be receptive to continued poor treatment. And worst of all, they will bloom once. If you time it right and buy them just when the buds are starting to show color, you might enjoy flowers for two or three weeks. Buy them looking great and you’ll probably have little more than week.
    Despite my unflattering (but truthful) description, I have planted mums in the past. Not because I liked them but because for a long time they were the only option for fall flower color. Thankfully garden centers have expanded their fall plant offerings to go beyond the basic chysanthemum, and gardeners have a bit of freedom to go beyond the mum ball.
    Ornamental kale and cabbage are very easy to grow given a bit of sun and a lack of slugs. They come in a variety of textures with green, white, pink and purple hues that work well with typical autumn colors. And they will last long past frost, although I’ve found that they become very tasty to four-legged garden visitors later in the season.
    Ornamental peppers — varieties with brightly colored fruit that’s beautiful to look at but not to eat — are a good way to bring bright color into the garden. Orange, purple, red and yellow peppers, sometimes on the same plant, liven up a fall planting. If there’s a drawback to these plants, it’s that they rarely put on much growth when purchased now, so what you see is probably what you’ll get for most of the fall season.
    Perhaps my favorite fall plant is one most people associate with spring — pansies. Not only do I get a longer season out of pansies in fall than spring, but there’s a chance they may overwinter and bloom in spring. Plus they come in so many colors that you’re not limited to the tradition autumn palette.
    And few things look better in fall than ornamental grasses. Garden centers have fresh grasses to buy now, but if you’ve already growing them, they can be the backbone of a refreshed fall container.
    I know there are lots of people who can’t imagine an autumn without a mum nestled in a display with a collection of gourds, admired while sipping a pumpkin spice latte, and I respect that. But there’s a whole other world of plants out there to explore.
    Keep that pumpkin spice latte if you must, but give some other plants a try this year. And if you must have a mum, you won’t have to fight me for it.