Plant Flowers in Autumn

In most countries, spring and early summer are the normal flowering times for the majority of plants and for good reason too. How else would they be able to fit the time in to produce their fruiting bodies and seeds in time for autumn? Why autumn? Well, many of the seeds from cooler, temperate regions require a dormancy period before germination can occur. This dormancy period is usually broken by a period of cold weather, followed by warmer, wetter weather ensuring that germination occurs at the most suitable time. This enables the juvenile plants to make use of the longer warmer days for effective photosynthesis and gives them an entire year to grow, store energy as carbohydrates, and prepare for the following onset of winter.

Unfortunately this natural cycle of growth, flowering and seed production means that - for the ornamental gardener - gardens look a little worse for wear once the summer comes to an end, but with a little investigation there are plants from warmer climates that are ‘tricked’ into flowering at the wrong time of the year. This is because plants from warmer regions need certain triggers in order to initiate flowering. This can be day length, average day temperatures, average night temperatures, seasonal rainfall, light intensity, the list goes on.

 

In cooler regions many of these triggers occur much later on in the year which is why there warmer climate plants flower later in cooler climates. Unfortunately they tend not to be able to produce fruiting bodies or viable seed before the colder temperatures of winter arrive. This can make it more difficult for propagation but for most gardeners this isn’t a factor when they come to choose their late summer/autumn flowering plants.