A swath of rudbeckia blooms in columnist Tom Atwell’s garden in Cape Elizabeth. It’s among the late-blooming flowers you may want to consider planting in your own garden. Photo by Tom Atwell

Spring flowers get all the press. April showers bring May flowers, and so on. But the fall garden can be just as colorful, and the color can go well beyond the expected yellow and gold of Rudbeckia.

Here’s my theory: So many gardens are dominated by spring blossoms because spring is when many homeowners, bored by winter snow and ice, head to their local garden centers. The plants in bloom catch their eye, so those are the ones they buy and plant.

And here’s my suggestion: Go to your local garden center now to see what is in bloom now. Buy something to perk up your garden for the fall.

Being selfish, the prime reason for wanting flowers late in the season is that I like to look at them. A side benefit is that bees, butterflies and other pollinators need food throughout the season, especially late to get them through the winter. These flowers help keep them going.

Among the several types of Rudbeckia (common name: black-eyed Susan), the most popular is rudbeckia fulgida. It’s a true perennial with many cultivars, including ‘Goldsturm,’ and rudbeckia hirta. Rudbeckia hirta are biennials, but they self-seed and will last forever. Ours began blooming in late July and usually keep blooming until first frost.

Like rudbeckia, you can identify echinacea by their cone with surrounding petals. Echinacea, has a noticeably larger cone, though. The petals of the original species are purple/pink, but hybridizers have produced flowers in red, white and even deep green. The plants are easy to care for.

A big striking hibiscus bloom in Tom Atwell’s garden. Photo by Tom Atwell

Those two fall-blooming plants are fairly common. For a striking blossom that is rarer, go with hibiscus. It has the common name mallow. Our first hibiscus bloomed two weeks ago. Its reddish-purple blossom is more than six inches in diameter. Buds are still appearing, so I expect it to keep thrilling us for weeks.

One sub-set of hibiscus is the late-blooming shrub that goes by the common name rose of Sharon. The flowers start in mid-August and go through the fall. Depending on the variety, the shrubs grow anywhere from 4 to 12 feet tall.

Hibiscus are a Zone 5 plant, which used to limit them to the warmer coastal areas of the state. But one small silver lining of climate change is that tender plants can grow in more places in Maine than they used to. The blossoms can be white, pink, violet and many shades in between. In its best years, the shrubs are stunning.

Three perennials begin with “hel” so I tend to confuse them; two of them are good late bloomers.

Helianthus divaricatus has striking bright yellow flowers that grow on stems more than six feet tall. The plant is happy in both full sun or partial shade.

Helenium has the unfortunate common name of sneezeweed (so named because its leaves used to be made into a type of snuff that made people sneeze, according to the USDA, apparently a good thing as sneezing was thought to rid the body of evil spirits). It grows from 18 to 24 inches tall, come in colors from yellow to red and has long-lasting blossoms.

It’s a bit of a cheat for me to mention Heliopsis, because it blooms earlier in the season. But it’s a good plant with a yellow, daisy-like bloom.

Coreopsis tripteris is native to New England but not to Maine, according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Texas. I’ve never seen it at local garden centers, but my wife Nancy bought seed from the American Horticultural Society about a quarter century ago, and it has thrived in our garden. This year, it bloomed in mid-August and should last until the first frost.

A bee on Joe Pye Weed in Tom Atwell’s garden. Late blooming plants are nice for humans, and they are nice for pollinators, too. Photo by Tom Atwell

A couple of native plants that would be considered invasive if they weren’t native are on my list of late-blooming necessities. Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium maculatum, grows six feet tall, has large purple blossoms that are about the same shape as lilac blossoms. It smells wonderful (and monarch butterflies like it). Joe Pye Weed likes to spread, but it can be kept in check.

Goldenrod grows wild all across the state and attracts many bees. It covered many untended fields I saw during a recent trip to the Bethel area. People think it makes them sneeze, but it doesn’t. The real culprit is the nearly invisible wind-pollinated ragweed that blossoms at the same time as goldenrod.

Asters are another native late-bloomer. The true natives have tiny blossoms, so for more bang for your buck, try cultivars like ‘Purple Dome,’ ‘Dragon Blue’ or ‘Alma Potschke’ instead.

Another late-blooming shrub I like is Clethra, as much for its strong, sweet fragrance, as for the white or pink blossoms (depending upon cultivar).

‘Autumn Joy’ sedum – and all its relatives – is a classic fall bloomer. The plants range from 6 to 18 inches tall, and remain poking above the snow all winter long.

I can’t close without mentioning the traditional chrysanthemums that just about everyone thinks of when fall approaches. Like pumpkins, they signal the season.

So if your garden looks dull right now, an expanse of green with nary a flower in bloom, make a quick trip to a nearby garden center – and bring something colorful home.

Tom Atwell is a freelance writer gardening in Cape Elizabeth. He can be contacted at: tomatwell@me.com.