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Photo Credit: Bryce H. Lane

The bright red fruit of winterberry holly doubles as food for wildlife.

Autumn has arrived – and just in time: After a long, hot season, your brilliant summer flowers are no longer brilliant, your planting beds are exhausted, and your container plants have seen better days. It’s time to add some new, fresh interest for the new season and fire up your fall garden!

Sure, there are lots of old favorites. Many gardeners turn to traditional chrysanthemums, or “mums.” These beauties are great because they can be planted as annuals or perennials; offer a wide array of colors, sizes and flower forms; and they blend in well with neighboring plants.

In warmer regions, like here in the Southeast, pansies are another great “fallback” because they offer blooms from autumn into spring and perform beautifully. The small-flowered miniature pansies, called Johnny-jump-ups or violas, will bloom all the way through winter.

But not everyone jumps up for these steady fall favorites – some gardeners want a little something more (or different). And here’s the great news: There are many plants out there that’ll add new levels of pizzazz to your autumn garden.

When my husband and I, both horticulturists, moved into our new house, we wanted to make sure our landscape offered us something year-round – not just at the onset of spring. We looked for plants that would showcase our garden in the fall and winter, too. So, for my fellow gardeners looking for something a little more permanent and powerful than the usual mums and pansies, be sure to check out these beauties – which you can rely on year after year for brilliant color:

If you’re going for some good garden structure, as well as fall hues, try Ilex verticillata, or winterberry holly. This deciduous tree grows 6-15 feet tall and 6-10 feet wide. In fall, the female plants produce small, bright-red berries in dense clusters, and they last into winter. The really cool thing about this holly is that the berries grow on bare stems. So rather than being hidden by leaves like most holly berries are, these clusters of brightness are nicely showcased. (I love them in the landscape, as well as in my holiday table arrangements!)