Home > Landscaping > Native Plants for Western Washington Gardens and Restoration Projects
Native Plants that flower in the fall (September, October, or November)
 | Achillea millefolium Yarrow Aromatic herb with delicate fern-like leaves and flat-topped clusters of white flowers. Height: 4 inches to 3 feet (10-100 cm). Blooms Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct. Flowers are arranged in flat-topped clusters 5-10 cm (2-4 in) across at stem tips. What appear to be single flowers within this cluster are actually tight heads of several tiny flowers, each head with 3-5 white ray flowers surrounding several yellow disk flowers; both ray and disk flowers produce seeds. The ray flowers are usually white but can also be pink or reddish. Flowers bloom later at higher elevations. |
 | Alisma plantago-aquatica Broadleaf Water-Plantain A terminal cluster of small white flowers sits above a tall leafless stem. It grows in marshy or semi-aquatic environments. Height: up to 48 inches (120 cm). Blooms Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Whorls of small white (rarely pink) flowers are arranged in an open, branched, terminal cluster that sticks up well beyond the leaves. Flowers only open in the afternoon and evening. Flower size: 5 mm long. |
 | Anaphalis margaritacea Pearly Everlasting Clump forming, perennial herb with small withering basal leaves and papery white flower clusters. Height: Up to 40 inches (100 cm). Blooms Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Flowers are very small with yellowish disk flowers surrounded by dry pearly white involucral bracts with dark triangular bases. The flowers which can be male or female appear in late summer. Flowers are in desne flat-topped clusters 15 cm (6 in) across. |
 | Aster chilensis Common California Aster A slender, sprawling perennial that produces light purple flowers. Height: Can grow up to 3 ft. (100 cm.) Blooms Aug, Sep. Each flower has 15-40 lavender to white ray flowers that range from 5-15 mm long with numerous small yellow disk flowers in the center. Each composite flower head is cupped by a green involucral of bracts that are 5-7 mm high and mostly blunt at the tip. The ray flowers of this plant are often mistaken for petals. The center of the flower contains tiny, tubular disk flowers. |
 | Aster subspicatus Douglas Aster Rhizomatous perennial wildflower with much-branched stems and light purple aster-like flower heads. Height: Grows up to 32 inches (80 cm). Blooms Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct. Ray flowers are blue to purple and disk flowers are yellow. Size: ray flowers are 1-2 cm long. A distinguishing characterisitic of Douglas aster is its thick overlapping bracts beneath each flower head. Also, outer margins of thegracts have a thin, transparent (waxy/papery) look. |
 | Cornus nuttallii Western Flowering Dogwood Multi-branched, irregular trees with attractive large white "flowers". Height: Up to 65 feet (20 meters) tall. Blooms Apr, May, Sep, Oct. Small, inconspicuous cluster of greenish-white flowers surrounded by 4-6 large, showy white bracts 2-7 cm long that appear to form a single flower. Sometimes will bloom again in September. |
 | Galium trifidum Small Bedstraw Sprawling perennial with numerous stems from slender rhizomes. Height: up to 28 inches (70 cm). Blooms Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Small whitish flowers in several to many clusters of 1-3 on long, narrow stalks from branch tips and axils of leaf whorls; size: 1-3 mm wide. |
 | Helenium autumnale Mountain Sneezeweed Blooms Aug, Sep. Flower color: yellow. |
 | Linnaea borealis Twinflower Trailing, slender, semi-woody, with short erect leafy stems and dainty bell-shaped flowers. Height: 4 inches (10 cm). Blooms May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Fragrant trumpet-shaped nodding flowers born in pairs on a thin Y-shaped stalk; size: 2-5 mm. |
 | Mimulus guttatus Yellow Monkey-flower Large yellow tubular flowers top this deciduous-leaved wetland perennial. Blooms Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Flower color: yellow. |
 | Oxalis oregana Wood Sorrel A delicate herb with clover-like leaves and white to pink flowers, forming carpets in forested areas. Blooms Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Flower color: white,pink. |
 | Sium suave Water-parsnip Blooms Jul, Aug, Sep. Flower color: white. |
 | Solidago canadensis Canada Goldenrod Forms patches from long creeping rhizomes. Stems leafy and hairy near the top, with a dense cluster of small yellow flowers. Height: Up to 5 feet (1.5 meters). Blooms Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Numerous flower heads in dense pyramidal cluster; ray flowers 10-17, 1-3 mm long; involucres 3-6mm x 3-5mm, long-pointed bracts that sometimes overlap, sometimes sticky and glandular. |
The landscaping and restoration information provided on this page is taken from the Starflower Foundation Image Herbarium. All photographs © Starflower Foundation unless otherwise noted.