Roses and peonies are in full effect in gardens all over Portland. The colors and shapes intrigue and delight, and add interest to any garden or tabletop. But there are some flowers you can still plant that will bloom late summer or fall, all perfect choices for cuttings—for dinner table vases, birthday bouquets, any occasion or no occasion at all.
Why not try a few of our top seven picks? All varieties here thrive in lots of sun and need water to get established, but once they’re going strong, you’ll have late summer blooms that last.
Roses, Roses, Roses (Rosaceae)
If you live in Portland, you’ve got to have at least one kind of rose in your yard. A climber is nice over the fence while bushier varieties add structure to deep-set beds. Roses are hearty, love sun, water and the perfect soil. While planting in summer is not recommended, you can still enjoy the blooms if you buy your rose in a pot, and leave it in there until it’s ready for fall planting. Cut fragrant blooms for any arrangement or add a single bud to a small vase on the kitchen sill. Get inspired with a walk through the International Rose Test Garden or the almost secret roses in Peninsula Park.
Zany, Cheerful Zinnias
Skip the seeds (they’d take too long at this point) and buy some starts at your local nursery. Once they start to bloom, the more you cut them, the more flowers they’ll produce (my favorite variety, in sherbet-like colors, is called ‘cut and come again’). Bright orange, yellow, red, lime green (and other colors!) blooms attract the eye in the garden and on the kitchen table.
A Perfect Cut in Tall Cosmos (Cosmos Bipinnatus)
With their feathery foliage and delicate petals on top of long stems, this annual looks fabulous against a picket fence or bowing down from a tall vase. Fast growing, they can go from seed to four and a half feet in no time. They will bloom all the way up to frost in the fall; the last hoorah of our garden season.
Bachelor’s Buttons (Centaurea Cyanus)
On 1-3 foot stems, this usually blue flower (though pink and white also available) is so named for its popularity as a boutonniere—its flower the perfect size for a button hole. It stands up to cutting and looks great in dried arrangements as well. As with most annuals, the more you cut it, the more flowers you’ll get. A rambunctious self-sower, you’re destined to see more in your garden next year as well.
Sun-Worshipping Dahlias (Dahlia)
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Since we’ve had such a wet spring (Dahlias are not fond of getting drenched), if you get them in the ground this weekend, you could have dahlias by early fall. Believe it or not, there are over 35 species and 20,000 cultivars of dahlias. All varieties of this tuberous perennial like to soak up the sun, with many types reaching well over six feet tall. Try a puffball style called Aurora’s Kiss or a spiny version like Art Deco. Reds, pinks, purples, oranges, whites and yellows make beautiful, bursting bouquets when bunched together in a large jam jar.
Who Doesn’t Love a Sunflower? (Helianthus Annuus)
Super easy to grow, the Sunflower in its many varieties is a wonderful backdrop for beds and borders. Choose tall varieties for grand display, or shorter ones to jam in jars and vases for every room in the house. What they lack in fragrance, they make up for in durability. Great in dried displays in the fall, or set out for a winter treat for birds. Whatever seeds the birds don’t get will surely self-sow for a new crop next year.
Mum's The Word For Fall Color And Arrangements (Chrysanthemum)
Though planting them in the ground in the fall is ideal, these hardy perennials will brighten any porch or patio in a pot until then. If you buy them with buds and it is before July 4th, cut them back for fuller foliage and a grand autumn show. Doubles or singles, these prolific blooms sit on short stems, making them perfect candidates for decorative containers stuffed with Oasis, a florist foam that you soak in water and then stick your short stemmed flowers in. I also like to get Oasis in ball forms and cover them in beautiful fall-hued blooms, attach a twig, and anchor in a pot for a festive topiary arrangement.
So bright and pretty! Thanks for adding a splash of color to my day. Great recommendations.
Bachelor's Button (Centaurea Cyanus) is considered an invasive species in Oregon. Please... plant something else!
Thanks for the comments! Melissa, while I understand your concern about Bachelor's Button, they are not on the Oregon Department of Agriculture's noxious weed list. They are most certainly prolific self-sowers and have invasive tendencies that gardeners should consider when planting. But so are many other beautiful plants like poppies, love-in-a-mist - and many, many others who enjoy our spectacular growing climate. To cut down on the self-sowing, deadhead the plants regularly. With a little bit of responsibility, these are beautiful and beneficial plants for a garden. Bachelor's Buttons are mildly antiseptic, and contain antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Thy are also used medicinally in teas and tinctures, especially beneficial for infections in the eyes. They are beneficial to pollinating insects, especially honey bees. Bachelor's Buttons are actually endangered in their native United Kingdom, where they have been all but wiped out from the over-use of herbicides.