Fall gardens don’t have to fade away just because summer blooms are gone. While chrysanthemums steal the spotlight with their rounded bursts of autumn color, pairing them with complementary perennials can transform your garden into a season-extending showcase.
These plant partnerships create depth, texture, and extended blooming periods that keep your outdoor spaces vibrant well into the cooler months.
1. Asters
Star-shaped blooms in purples, pinks, and blues make asters natural companions for gold and orange mums. They attract late-season butterflies and pollinators when most other flowers have finished their show.
Growing between 1-4 feet tall depending on variety, these daisy-like flowers thrive in similar conditions as mums. I’ve found they look especially striking when planted slightly behind shorter mum varieties, creating a layered effect.
Plant asters in well-draining soil with full to partial sun exposure. They’ll return year after year with minimal care, often blooming from late summer until the first hard frost.
2. Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’
Succulent foliage topped with flat clusters of tiny star-shaped flowers creates architectural interest alongside rounded mum blooms. The flower heads start pale green in summer, then transition to pink and finally rich copper-red as fall progresses.
My favorite thing about pairing sedum with mums is the contrasting textures. While mums create soft mounds, sedum stands upright with sturdy stems that rarely need staking, even after rainfall.
These drought-tolerant plants prefer full sun and well-draining soil. Even after blooming ends, the dried flower heads provide winter interest and food for birds when left standing in the garden.
3. Russian Sage
Airy spires of lavender-blue flowers create a cloud-like effect that softens the dense form of mum plantings. The silvery-gray foliage adds a cooling contrast to the rich autumn palette in your garden beds.
Heat and drought resistant once established, Russian sage requires almost no maintenance. Last year, I planted a row behind my red and bronze mums, and the combination stopped neighbors in their tracks.
Give these plants plenty of space – they can reach 3-4 feet tall and wide. Their aromatic foliage deters deer and rabbits, offering natural protection for your precious mums during fall feeding season.
4. Coreopsis
Cheerful daisy-like flowers in gold, yellow, and bicolor patterns extend the summer feeling into fall. Newer varieties like ‘Mercury Rising’ offer rich red blooms that complement traditional autumn colors perfectly.
Deadheading spent flowers encourages these hard-working perennials to keep blooming alongside your mums. Their fine-textured foliage creates a lovely contrast with the broader leaves of chrysanthemums.
Plant these sun-lovers in well-draining soil and they’ll reward you with weeks of additional color. Some varieties even bloom until frost, making them reliable partners for extending your garden’s seasonal display.
5. Black-Eyed Susans
Golden petals surrounding dark centers bring sunshine to fall gardens even as days grow shorter. These native wildflowers bloom profusely from mid-summer through early fall, creating a seamless transition into mum season.
Leaving some spent blooms intact allows seed formation that attracts finches and other birds. The slightly wild, informal nature of these flowers helps soften the sometimes too-perfect roundness of mum plantings.
My garden includes several clumps near purple and white mums – the color contrast is striking. These tough plants handle poor soil and drought conditions that would stress fussier perennials.
6. Japanese Anemones
Elegant, poppy-like flowers on tall, wiry stems add height and movement to fall plantings. Their delicate appearance creates a beautiful contrast with the dense, mounded form of traditional mums.
Available in shades from pure white to deep pink, these late-bloomers open just as many summer flowers fade. Unlike some fall perennials, Japanese anemones prefer partial shade, making them perfect for brightening those tricky spots where full-sun mums might struggle.
Once established, these plants form expanding clumps that return reliably each year. Their slightly later bloom time extends the fall display after early mum varieties have passed their peak.
7. Autumn Crocus
Surprising bursts of color emerge directly from the soil with no foliage, creating magical accents around mum plantings. Unlike spring crocus, these fall-blooming bulbs send up leaves in spring that die back by summer, then produce flowers in September and October.
The leafless blooms in purple, pink, or white seem to appear overnight, earning them the nickname “naked ladies.” Planting them between mounds of chrysanthemums creates unexpected color pockets at ground level.
Plant bulbs in late summer for same-season blooms or in fall for next year’s display. They naturalize easily in well-draining soil, multiplying over time to create increasingly impressive shows each autumn.
8. Helenium
Daisy-like flowers with distinctive cone centers in fiery reds, oranges, and yellows mirror classic autumn colors. Often called sneezeweed (though they don’t cause allergies), these native perennials attract butterflies and bees when many other nectar sources have disappeared.
Reaching heights of 3-5 feet, they create excellent backdrops for shorter mum varieties. The slightly ragged, wild appearance of helenium blooms helps balance the sometimes too-formal look of hybrid mums.
Cutting back plants by one-third in early summer produces more compact plants with additional branching and blooms. Most varieties perform best in full sun with consistent moisture.
9. Toad Lily
Exotic-looking orchid-like blooms speckled with purple dots create fascinating focal points in shade gardens where many mums wouldn’t thrive. Their unusual appearance draws visitors closer for inspection, adding an element of discovery to fall gardens.
Shade-loving and moisture-appreciative, toad lilies work beautifully with mum varieties that tolerate partial shade. The intricate flowers appear along arching stems, creating a waterfall effect when planted in groups.
My woodland garden features several varieties interplanted with pale lavender mums. The combination flowers reliably from September through October, brightening areas that typically lack fall color.
10. Goldenrod
Feathery plumes of brilliant yellow flowers create dramatic vertical accents alongside rounded mums. Despite its unfair reputation as an allergen (it’s actually ragweed that causes problems), goldenrod is a valuable late-season nectar source for pollinators.
Garden varieties like ‘Fireworks’ and ‘Little Lemon’ are well-behaved compared to their roadside cousins. The bright yellow color complements purple, burgundy, and bronze mums particularly well in naturalistic plantings.
These native plants thrive in average soil with full sun exposure. Their deep root systems make them drought-tolerant once established, requiring little supplemental watering even during dry fall seasons.
11. Hardy Geraniums
Low-growing mounds of deeply cut foliage often develop rich autumn colors as temperatures drop, complementing nearby mums. Unlike their annual cousins, these perennial geraniums return reliably year after year, forming increasingly larger clumps.
Many varieties produce a second flush of flowers in fall after being cut back post-summer bloom. The delicate, open form of their flowers creates a lovely contrast with the denser blooms of chrysanthemums.
Exceptionally adaptable to different light conditions, hardy geraniums work in everything from full sun to partial shade. Their sprawling habit helps suppress weeds around the base of taller mum plants.