Plants in Bloom

This shrub’s iridescent clusters of berries persist after its leaves drop, providing winter sustenance for many species of birds.

Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Early Amethyst’ (beautyberry) in the Plant Family Collection. Photo: Blanca Begert.

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This popular garden plant has flower heads that are darker and larger than those of other native asters. They also have more ray flowers, and can reach a height of up to five feet tall. 

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (New England aster) in the Water Garden. Photo: Alvina Lai.

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Milkweeds are host plants to monarch butterflies, which can be seen flitting around them in the summer. The seedpods, which dry out during fall, are filled with silky filaments that help carry the seeds far from the mother plant when the wind catches them.

Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed) in the Native Flora Garden. Photo: Blanca Begert.

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Lovely anemones first bloom in late summer and continue through fall, attracting pollinators when many sources of pollen and nectar have gone to seed.

Anemone hupehensis ‘September Sprite’ (Japanese anemone) in the Rock Garden. Photo: Lee Patrick.

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Native to Eastern China and Japan, this deciduous shrub produces striking blue berries surrounded by a pinkish-red calyx in fall. It is sometimes called the “peanut butter tree,” in reference to the scent emitted from crushed leaves.

Clerodendrum trichotomum (harlequin glory-bower) in the Plant Family Collection. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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The beautiful little flowers of this shade-loving plant look a bit like orchids and persist through October and even into November. They attract bees and other pollinators.

Tricyrtis ‘Tojen’ (Japanese toad-lily) in the Rose Arc Pool. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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Native to the eastern two-thirds of the United States, this grass was especially common in the prairies that thrived in North America prior to European colonization. It can grow as tall as eight feet, and its spikelets change from green to purple as it matures in the fall.

Andropogon gerardii (big bluestem) in the Native Flora Garden. Photo: Blanca Begert.

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This small goldenrod, named for its downy gray stems, produces clumps of yellow plumes that attract butterflies. Individual plants bloom at varying times, giving it an extended blooming season from late summer into early fall.

Solidago nemoralis (gray goldenrod) in the Water Garden. Photo: Blanca Begert.

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This lovely shrub rose hybrid blooms repeatedly starting in late spring through fall.

Rosa ‘Surf Rider’ (shrub rose) in the Rose Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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This cultivar, sometimes misnamed autumn-crocus, is not a true crocus, though it resembles one! Instead, this delicate fall-blooming bulb belongs to the genus Colchicum. 

Colchicum ‘The Giant’ (colchicum) in the Rock Garden. Photo: Blanca Begert.

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This apricot-colored rose blooms in early summer and again later, usually along with the second flush of blooms in September.

Rosa ‘Cubana’ (shrub rose) in the Rose Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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Dahlias are a genus of composite flowers native to Mexico and South America that come in a spectacular variety of forms and hues. 

Dahlia cultivar (dahlia) in the Rose Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

Lotuses can resemble water-lilies, but lotus flowers and leaves tend to stretch above the surface instead of floating. All parts of this plant are edible! Lotus seed paste is a traditional filling for mooncakes eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. 

Nelumbo nucifera species (sacred lotus) on Lily Pool Terrace. Photo: Michael Stewart.

This later-blooming aster species has violet-colored flower heads and leaves that are fragrant when crushed. Bees and butterflies feed on its nectar.

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium ‘October Skies’ (‘October Skies’) in the Rose Arc Pool. Photo: Blanca Begert.

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Large, lush cup-shaped flowers adorn this floribunda shrub rose, which blooms repeatedly from early summer through fall.

Rosa POSEIDON = ‘Korfriedhar’ (floribunda rose) in the Rose Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

This native perennial can often be found in swamps and along streams. Its scarlet flowers attract bees and hummingbirds (but not cardinals!).

Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) in the Rock Garden, Native Flora Garden, Discovery Garden, and Water Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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Most people don’t notice this unassuming shrub earlier in the year. Then, just as other flowers fade, bluebeard’s cheerful blossoms appear. Look for them in late summer and early fall in the Water Garden.

Caryopteris × clandonensis ‘Dark Knight’ (bluebeard) in the Water Garden. Photo: Blanca Begert.

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In late summer, the flowers of this short-lived perennial mature to clusters of round seeds that resemble blackberries.

Iris domestica (blackberry-lily) in the Perennial Border. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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These tough and adaptable asters can thrive in disturbed sites, and grow well in sun or shade.

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (blue wood aster) in the Discovery Garden. Photo: Elizabeth Peters.

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This versatile groundcover, native to China, has vivid blue flowers that appear later in the summer. Like many groundcovers, it spreads by sending out rhizomes, or horizontal underground stems.

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (hardy blue-flowered leadwort) in the Osborne Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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This deciduous shrub and classic garden plant, despite its common name, is not a rose! It belongs instead to the mallow (Malvaceae) family. 

Hibiscus syriacus ‘Diana’ (rose-of-Sharon) in the Water Garden. Photo: Alvina Lai.

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This perennial species, native to the prairies of the central U.S., attracts butterflies and other pollinators.

Helianthus salicifolius (willowleaf sunflower) in the Water Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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This hybrid cultivar of our native hibiscus—also known as swamp mallow or rose-mallow—has large flowers up to ten inches across that only last one day.

Hibiscus ‘Lord Baltimore’ (hardy hibiscus ‘Lord Baltimore’) in the Water Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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This perennial grass is native to the river banks and moist woodland borders of the eastern and midwestern United States. It boasts gently nodding, flat flower spikelets that dangle above the leaves.

Chasmanthium latifolium ‘River Mist’ (river oats) in the Fragrance Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

Native to the eastern and central United States and Canada, these woodland wildflowers bloom from midsummer through fall. Forest sunflowers attract bees and butterflies, and can grow up to five feet tall.

Helianthus decapetalus (forest sunflower) in the Native Flora Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

Native to the eastern and midwestern prairies of the United States, this short-lived perennial attracts bees, butterflies, and birds. Brown-eyed Susan grows taller than black-eyed Susan, and has distinct three-lobed leaves.

Rudbeckia triloba ‘Prairie Glow’ (brown-eyed Susan) in the Perennial Border. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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This white-flowered aster grows well in the shade. Aster disc florets are attractive to many different late-season pollinators, and fade from yellow to red as they are pollinated. 

Eurybia divaricata (white wood aster) in the Native Flora Garden. Photo: Blanca Begert.

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This native plant has distinctive spotted, tubular flowers that are stacked along the stem. The bright pink bracts under each flower help attract wasps and bees.

Monarda punctata (spotted bee balm) in the Native Flora Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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This native wildflower blooms from summer into early fall and attracts butterflies and bees of all kinds.

Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan) on the Overlook. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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This late-summer bloomer with dangling clusters of delicately fragrant pink flowers is a perennial species that survives Brooklyn winters. See an expansive understory carpet blossoming in Bluebell Wood in late September.

Begonia grandis (hardy begonia) in Bluebell Wood. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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Gaylussacia baccata is a native deciduous shrub that belongs to the blueberry family. Its purplish berries, which start to ripen in the summer, are loved by wildlife and delicious in pies.

Gaylussacia baccata (black huckleberry) in the Native Flora Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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Like the cardinal flower, a close relative, this native plant is found in wet areas of the eastern United States. It’s a great addition to rain gardens and woodland gardens.

Lobelia siphilitica (great blue lobelia) in the Water Garden. Photo: Blanca Begert.

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This deciduous conifer is found at pond edges. Related to the bald cypress, it is narrower with shorter, overlapping needles. This cultivar, ‘Nutans’, has slightly weeping branches.

Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium ‘Nutans’ (nodding pond cypress) in the Rock Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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One of the last wild natives to flower, Ageratina altissima is a supportive partner to hungry insects like bees, moths, and flies furiously foraging before the weather turns cold and food becomes scarce.

Ageratina altissima (white snakeroot) in the Native Flora Garden. Photo: Blanca Begert.

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Rosa ‘Pure Poetry’ (floribunda rose) in the Rose Garden. Photo: Alvina Lai.

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Crinum amabile ‘Cuprifolium’ (copper-leaved crinum lily) in the Entry House. Photo: Alvina Lai.

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Native to South Africa, this three-season bloomer can be trellised as a vine or grown as a shrub.

Plumbago auriculata (cape leadwort) in the Warm Temperate Pavilion. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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A classic hybrid tea rose with a large, single bloom at the end of a long stem and a sweet fragrance, this pink cultivar was named after the Nobel Prize-winning French poet.

Rosa Frederic Mistral = ‘Meitebros’ (hybrid tea rose Frederic Mistral) in the Rose Garden. Photo: Jean-Marc Grambert.

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Airy sprays of lavender-purple flowers and lacy blue-green foliage adorn this tall, herbaceous perennial, which blooms from midsummer through early fall.

Thalictrum rochebruneanum (meadow-rue) in the Woodland Shade Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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Stonecrops, or sedums, are a genus of succulents with an exceptionally varied array of flowers, foliage, and habits. A butterfly favorite, ‘Autumn Joy’ offers color-changing flower heads that blossom pink in the summer then transition to a dark rose in autumn. 

Hylotelephium Autumn Joy = (Herbstfreude Group) ‘Herbstfreude’ (stonecrop [Autumn Joy]) in the Rock Garden. Photo: Michael Stewart.

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