Garden Plants That Can Be Planted in Late Summer

Cool-Season Crops

• Warm late summer air and soil temperatures allow rapid seed germination and quick root growth. Crops that prefer cool weather thrive in fall and winter, lasting for a long time before bolting or becoming bitter. Cabbage family plants, or cole crops, include Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Put them in as seeds or as started transplants. Salad greens and greens for cooking are Swiss chard, lettuce, arugula, collards and kale. Root crops such as beets, carrots, parsnips and turnips become sweeter when grown during cold weather. Bush snap and lima beans, sugar and shelling peas, bunching onions, leeks and onion sets can also be started in late summer.

Herbs

• Fresh dill (Anethum graveolens) for cooking fish or making bread or salad dressing starts with a late summer seed sowing. Italian flat-leaf parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. neapolitanum) or curly moss parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. crispum) can go into the garden from purchased transplants or sown seed. Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) bolts quickly in hot weather but grows well as a cool-season herb. Flat-leaved garlic chives (Allium tuberosum), chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium) (used in French cooking) and salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor) with its cucumber-flavored leaves are also flavorful cool-season herbs. Grow these plants as annuals in any USDA zone.

Ornamentals

• Put in seeds or transplants of cool-season flowers like stock (Matthiola incana), sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima), pansies (Viola tricolor spp. hortensis), heartsease (Viola tricolor), sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) and calendula (Calendula officinalis). These annuals grow in any USDA zone and will give you cut flowers for winter and spring bouquets. Bearded iris (Iris x germanica), hardy in zones 5 through 9, should be planted in late summer so rhizomes can root out well. Plants grow leaves during fall and winter in mild winter climates, blooming in March and April with tall-stalked, showy flowers in many colors. For perennials that bloom in spring, plant the bare root or established perennial in late summer for proper root growth and better bloom.

Autumn-Flowering Bulbs

• Fall-blooming bulbs need to be put into place as soon as they are available in late summer or they may not bloom until the following year. Showy spider lilies (Lycoris spp.) send up tall flower stalks in fall before the leaves emerge. Red spider lily (L. radiata) grows in zones 6 through 10 and pink-flowered surprise lily or naked lady (L. squamigera) grows in zones 5 through 10. Low-growing fall crocus (Colchicum spp.), hardy in zones 4 through 9, and saffron crocus (Crocus sativa) produce lavender to pink flowers in fall. Saffron grows in zones 6 through 9 and produces the gourmet spice from the orange stigmas or female flower parts in the center of each saffron crocus flower.

Warm-Season Crops

• Often the vigor of heavily producing summer crops like tomatoes, eggplants and bell peppers declines in late summer, making them less productive. Get a second crop by setting out a new batch of started plants. Some tomato varieties for fall harvest to try include "Heatwave," "Bingo," "Celebrity" and "Solar Set." Yields increase in cooler fall weather until frost kills the plants. Insect pests have had all summer to build up, so you need to watch for insect damage and plant diseases.