Fall gardening in South Jersey doesn't mean saying goodbye to summer overnight. Late August is the perfect time to refresh tired planters, add fall-blooming perennials, tackle seasonal garden maintenance, and start planning fall planting projects.
The tomatoes are still ripening. Summer annuals may still be blooming. Hydrangeas, ornamental grasses, and other landscape favorites are holding onto the season. But at the same time, cooler mornings are beginning to hint that fall is right around the corner.
The good news? You do not have to completely clear out summer to start preparing your garden for fall.
For gardeners in Zone 7b around Mullica Hill, New Jersey, late summer is one of the best times to refresh tired planters, add plants that carry color into autumn, evaluate your landscape, and start planning fall planting projects.
Here is how to make the transition gradually while getting your garden ready for the season ahead.
Start by Editing, Not Emptying
Before pulling everything out of your planters and garden beds, take a look at what is still performing.
Some summer annuals will continue looking beautiful well into September, especially with regular watering, deadheading, and occasional trimming. There is no reason to remove a healthy plant simply because the calendar says fall is approaching.
Instead, focus on the plants that are clearly finished.
Remove annuals that have become:
- Leggy or sparse
- Heavily damaged by summer heat
- Diseased
- No longer flowering
- Overgrown or difficult to maintain
Then use those empty spaces to introduce a few seasonal additions.
This creates a transitional fall garden rather than an overnight transformation, allowing you to enjoy the last weeks of summer while slowly introducing autumn color and texture.
Refresh Summer Planters with Fall Annuals
Container gardens are one of the easiest places to begin transitioning for fall.
Instead of completely rebuilding a planter that still has healthy plants, try replacing only one or two tired summer annuals.
Transitional plants to look for include:
Dusty Miller
Its silvery foliage pairs beautifully with both summer flowers and richer autumn colors. Dusty miller also handles cooler temperatures better than many tender summer annuals.
Ornamental Peppers
Bright red, orange, yellow, purple, and almost-black fruits make ornamental peppers an easy way to introduce fall color while temperatures are still relatively warm. Think of these as an early-fall transition plant rather than one you expect to carry through freezing weather.
Pansies and Violas
Once temperatures begin cooling, pansies become a fall container staple. Their cold tolerance allows them to keep going long after many summer annuals have finished.
Mums
Few plants say fall quite like garden mums. Use them as a larger focal point in planters or group several together for a bigger seasonal display.
Ornamental Kale and Cabbage
These become especially useful later in the season as temperatures drop. Their dramatic foliage can provide color and structure when flowering annuals begin slowing down.
Snapdragons
Snapdragons appreciate cooler weather and are a great way to keep vertical flowers in planters as we move away from summer.
The key is to layer fall into what you already have.
A planter with healthy trailing greenery, for example, may only need an ornamental pepper and a few pansies to suddenly feel appropriate for September.
As the remaining summer plants eventually finish, they can be replaced one at a time.
Bring Fall Color Into the Landscape with Perennials
Annuals are not the only way to refresh the garden for fall.
Late-blooming perennials can extend color in your landscape while providing plants that return year after year.
At Bast Brothers, look for our Autumn Addition perennials in the orange pots. These plants are selected specifically for their ability to bring fresh interest to the late-season garden.
Selection changes throughout the season, but fall-blooming perennial favorites may include plants such as:
- Asters
- Sedum
- Rudbeckia
- Goldenrod
- Turtlehead
- Montauk daisy
- Late-blooming salvia
- Ornamental grasses
Asters and goldenrods are particularly valuable because their late flowers can provide nectar and pollen for pollinators at a time when many other plants have already finished blooming.
Rather than thinking of fall perennials as simply seasonal decoration, think of them as an opportunity to fill gaps in your garden's bloom calendar.
If one section of your landscape looks beautiful in May and June but becomes completely green by August, adding a few late-season bloomers can help create interest from summer through fall.
Fall Is for Planting Trees and Shrubs
One of the biggest misconceptions we hear is that spring is the only time to plant a landscape.
In South Jersey, fall can be an excellent time to plant trees, shrubs, and many perennials.
As temperatures begin cooling, plants experience less heat stress while the soil remains warm enough for roots to continue establishing. Instead of putting energy into surviving intense summer heat, newly planted trees and shrubs can focus on establishing their root systems.
That makes fall a great time to finally tackle projects such as:
- Adding foundation shrubs
- Creating privacy screening
- Filling empty landscape beds
- Adding flowering shrubs
- Installing ornamental trees
- Expanding perennial gardens
- Replacing plants that struggled through the summer
Do not forget about fall and winter interest, either.
Evergreen foliage, ornamental grasses, berries, colorful stems, interesting bark, and dried flower heads can keep a landscape attractive long after summer flowers disappear.
A four-season garden should never rely on flowers alone.
What Should You Do in the Garden at the End of Summer?
Late summer is a good time to clean things up, but avoid the temptation to cut everything down.
Tackle Now:
-
Remove spent annuals.
If an annual is clearly finished, remove it and make room for something new. -
Deadhead plants that are still flowering.
Many annuals and some perennials will continue blooming when old flowers are regularly removed. -
Remove diseased plant material.
Leaves or stems showing significant disease should generally be removed rather than left sitting around the garden. -
Keep watering.
August and September can still be hot and dry in South Jersey. Newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials need consistent moisture while their roots establish. -
Pull weeds before they go to seed.
A little work now can mean fewer weeds waiting for you next year. -
Evaluate your landscape.
Take photos. Notice empty spaces. Look for areas that lacked flowers, structure, privacy, or color this season. These observations are incredibly useful when choosing new plants. -
Refresh containers.
Replace tired annuals with transitional and cool-season varieties rather than immediately removing everything. -
Start planting.
As the weather begins cooling, start tackling perennial, shrub, and tree projects you have been putting off.
What Can Wait Until Later?
Not everything needs to be cleaned up before fall.
Major Perennial Cutbacks
You may be surprised by how much of your perennial garden can remain standing.
Seed heads, stems, and dried foliage can provide winter texture while also offering habitat and food sources for wildlife. Unless a plant is diseased or creating another issue, there is often no rush to cut the entire garden to the ground.
Many gardeners now wait until late winter or early spring for much of their perennial cleanup.
Heavy Pruning
Fall is not automatically pruning season for every shrub.
Some spring-flowering shrubs develop next year's flower buds well before winter. Pruning them at the wrong time can mean accidentally removing next spring's flowers.
Hydrangeas are another good example. Different types of hydrangeas bloom on different kinds of wood, so pruning recommendations depend on the variety you have.
When in doubt, ask before you cut.
Removing Every Fallen Leaf
Leaves do not necessarily need to disappear from the landscape.
While thick layers should not be allowed to smother turf, leaves can be useful in garden beds and naturalized areas, where they break down and help support the ecosystem living beneath your plants.
A perfectly bare garden is not always a healthier garden.
Don't Forget About Your Existing Perennials
When perennial flowers begin fading, it can be easy to assume the plant is finished.
Remember: perennials are supposed to return.
A perennial that has completed its bloom cycle does not necessarily need to be replaced. Its foliage may continue collecting energy for the plant even after flowering ends, helping prepare the roots for dormancy and next year's growth.
Instead of pulling it out, consider what could be planted nearby to provide interest during a different part of the season.
This is one of the secrets to creating a great four-season garden in New Jersey: overlapping plants with different bloom times rather than expecting every plant to flower all season.
Take Notes While This Year's Garden Is Fresh in Your Mind
One of our favorite end-of-summer gardening tips costs absolutely nothing.
Take pictures of your garden now.
By spring, it can be surprisingly difficult to remember exactly where things felt empty.
Photograph your landscape and make note of:
- Areas that need more color
- Plants that became too large
- Plants that struggled
- Spots that receive more or less sun than expected
- Areas that could use evergreen structure
- Gaps between bloom seasons
- Places where you want more privacy
- Planters that need a different combination next year
Then bring those photos and measurements with you when shopping.
Our team can help you choose plants based on the conditions you actually have rather than simply picking something because it looks beautiful on the garden center bench.
Think Beyond Traditional Fall Colors
A fall garden does not have to be entirely orange, yellow, and red. If your landscape is filled with whites, blues, pinks, or purples, you can carry the same palette into autumn.
Try combinations like:
Soft & Neutral
White pansies + dusty miller + ornamental grasses
Purple & Moody
Purple pansies + dark ornamental peppers + burgundy foliage
Classic Fall
Orange mums + ornamental peppers + grasses
Garden Cottage
Asters + rudbeckia + sedum + wispy ornamental grasses
Working within the existing colors of your home and landscape creates a more intentional transition from summer to fall. Seasonal does not have to mean themed.
A Simple End-of-Summer Garden Checklist for Zone 7b
Before fall arrives in South Jersey:
- Remove annuals that are truly finished
- Keep healthy summer annuals blooming as long as they look good
- Add transitional annuals to containers
- Look for late-blooming perennials
- Identify holes in your perennial bloom calendar
- Continue watering during dry weather
- Weed garden beds
- Remove diseased foliage
- Photograph your landscape
- Make a list of trees, shrubs, or perennials you want to add
- Begin fall planting as temperatures moderate
- Avoid unnecessary heavy pruning
- Leave healthy perennial stems and seed heads when possible
- Plan ahead for spring bulbs later this fall
You do not need to finish everything in one weekend.
The transition from summer into fall can happen slowly.
Fall Gardening in Mullica Hill, NJ
Late summer is not the end of the gardening season. In many ways, it is the beginning of one of our favorite times to work outside.
Cooler weather makes planting more enjoyable, fall-blooming plants bring fresh color to tired landscapes, and newly planted trees and shrubs have an opportunity to establish before next summer.
Whether you want to refresh a few planters or finally tackle an entire landscape bed, Bast Brothers Garden Center in Mullica Hill, NJ can help you choose plants suited to your space and our Zone 7b climate.
Stop in to explore our fall annuals, Autumn Addition perennials in the orange pots, trees, shrubs, ornamental grasses, pottery, and seasonal arrivals.
Not sure what your garden needs? Bring us a few photos, measurements, and an idea of how much sun the area receives. Our team can help point you in the right direction!
Bast Brothers Garden Center
1214 Ellis Mill Road
Mullica Hill, NJ 08062
Fall Gardening FAQ:
When should I start transitioning my planters for fall in New Jersey?
You can begin in late August and early September by replacing tired summer annuals while leaving healthy plants intact. As temperatures cool, gradually introduce more cold-tolerant plants such as pansies, violas, dusty miller, ornamental kale, and cabbage.
Is fall a good time to plant shrubs in New Jersey?
Yes. Fall can be an excellent planting season for many trees and shrubs because temperatures are cooler while soil remains warm enough for root development. Newly planted landscapes should still be watered consistently until the ground becomes cold.
Should I cut back my perennials in the fall?
Not necessarily. Many healthy perennial stems and seed heads can remain standing through winter and be cleaned up in late winter or spring. Remove material that is diseased or causing problems, but your garden does not have to be completely cut down every fall.
What flowers can I plant for fall color in Zone 7b?
Pansies, violas, mums, dusty miller, ornamental kale, ornamental cabbage, and snapdragons are popular options for seasonal displays. Late-blooming perennials such as asters, sedum, rudbeckia, goldenrod, turtlehead, and Montauk daisies can also extend color in the landscape.
Can I plant perennials in the fall in South Jersey?
Yes. Many hardy perennials can be planted in fall. Planting earlier in the fall gives their roots more time to establish before winter, so do not wait unnecessarily if you already know what you want to add.
Are Shasta daisies drought tolerant?
Shasta daisies tolerate dry to medium soil and some drought after establishment, but they may need supplemental water sooner than tougher plants such as yucca, sedum, yarrow, or Russian sage. Good drainage is essential.
Can drought-tolerant plants survive in containers while I am away?
They may tolerate brief periods of dryness better than moisture-loving plants, but containers dry much faster than garden beds. During hot summer weather, containers may still need daily watering. Move pots away from intense afternoon sun and arrange for watering during longer trips.
Key Takeaways:
Keep healthy summer plants going and replace only what looks tired or spent.
Refresh planters with fall-friendly annuals like dusty miller, ornamental peppers, pansies, mums, and ornamental kale.
Add fall-blooming perennials to extend color and support pollinators.
Fall is a great time in Zone 7b to plant trees, shrubs, and many perennials.
Keep watering, remove diseased growth, and tackle weeds now, but save major pruning and unnecessary perennial cutbacks for later.
Take photos of your garden now so you can easily spot gaps and plan improvements for next season.
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Bast Brothers Garden Center
Bast Brothers Garden Center is a family owned and operated establishment. Owner-operator Bert Bast works alongside his wife, Allison Bast, to curate a unique assortment of locally grown annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, and indoor plants. Bert and his brothers and father refurbished the garden center and barn after purchasing the property in September 2014, while Allie runs marketing and buying operations.
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