Fall Flowers & Plants Are Here at Maple Leaf Farms!

Fall color is officially beginning at Maple Leaf Farms Garden Center & Country Store in Manalapan, New Jersey, and this is one of our favorite transitions of the entire year.

The days are beginning to feel a little different, cooler weather is getting closer, and our garden center is starting to fill with the colors and plants that signal fall is on its way.

Mums, celosia, asters, cannas, ornamental cabbage and kale, millet, mixed baskets, ready-to-go urns and other fall favorites are beginning to take over Maple Leaf Farms.

If you love decorating your porch, refreshing your planters, adding late-season color around your home, or simply getting an early start on fall, now is a great time to visit.

And we're only getting started.

Fall Mums Are Here!

Nothing says fall quite like garden mums.

Mums are one of the easiest ways to completely change the look of a porch, patio, walkway, entrance, or landscape as summer begins transitioning into autumn.

Their dense growth and huge amount of flower buds can create an incredible display of seasonal color, with varieties offering classic fall shades ranging from:

• Yellow and gold

• Orange and bronze

• Red and burgundy

• Purple

• Pink

• White and cream

• Other seasonal shades and combinations

Whether you want one mum beside the front door or want to build an entire fall display, there are plenty of ways to use them.

Mix Different Mum Colors Together

One of the easiest fall decorating ideas is also one of the best: don't be afraid to mix colors.

Deep burgundy beside bright yellow creates a completely different appearance from orange mixed with bronze or purple.

You can keep everything coordinated or combine several traditional autumn colors for a much larger visual impact.

Specific colors, sizes and varieties change as material arrives, so our selection throughout the season can vary.

Celosia Brings Incredible Fall Color and Texture

If you want something different from traditional mums, celosia deserves attention.

Its unusual flowers provide bold texture along with intense reds, oranges, yellows, pinks and other rich colors depending on the variety.

Celosia looks especially good when mixed with plants that have completely different foliage and flower forms.

Put it beside a mum, ornamental kale or millet and suddenly the planter has height, texture and multiple layers of color instead of looking like a single mass of flowers.

It is one of those plants that can immediately make a fall container look more interesting.

Ornamental Cabbage & Kale Add Color Without Traditional Flowers

Not everything in a fall planter needs to flower.

Ornamental cabbage and ornamental kale are grown for their colorful foliage and become especially useful as temperatures begin cooling.

Depending on the variety, foliage can feature combinations of:

• Green

• White

• Cream

• Purple

• Pink

• Burgundy

Their broad, layered leaves create a completely different texture from mums, asters and celosia.

They look great individually, but we especially like using cabbage and kale as part of a larger mixed fall arrangement.

Millet Adds Height and Drama

A great container doesn't only need color—it needs shape.

That's where ornamental millet can make a big difference.

Its upright form provides height above lower-growing fall plants and creates a dramatic centerpiece for larger containers and urns.

Instead of having every plant sitting at approximately the same level, millet allows you to build upward.

A Simple Fall Container Formula

A taller plant such as millet can establish the center.

Surround it with colorful mums, asters or celosia.

Then use ornamental cabbage or kale to provide bold foliage and additional texture.

The result is a much fuller and more dimensional fall arrangement.

Asters Bring Classic Late-Season Flowers

Asters are another favorite as we move toward fall.

Their daisy-like flowers commonly appear in shades of purple, lavender, blue-toned purple, pink or white depending on the variety.

They provide beautiful late-season color and are particularly valuable because flowering asters can also support pollinators at a point in the year when fewer plants are blooming.

Maple Leaf Farms already carries asters within our broader perennial selection, and they become especially appropriate as the garden transitions toward autumn.

Cannas Are Still Bringing the Color

Fall may be approaching, but summer isn't disappearing overnight.

Cannas can help bridge that transition.

Their large leaves, bold appearance and bright flowers bring a tropical look to containers and displays while the traditional colors of fall begin appearing around them.

That contrast is part of what makes this time of year so interesting.

You don't have to transform everything from summer to fall in one day.

Use what still looks great, introduce fall plants around it, and allow the display to change gradually with the season.

Mixed Fall Baskets & Urns Are Ready to Go

Not everyone wants to design a planter from scratch.

That's why we're also preparing mixed fall baskets and ready-to-go urns that combine complementary plants, colors, heights and textures.

These are an easy way to bring a finished fall look directly to:

• Front porches

• Entryways

• Patios

• Walkways

• Steps

• Decks

• Outdoor living areas

• Businesses and storefront entrances

Set one beside a doorway, use matching arrangements on both sides of an entrance, or combine them with individual mums and other fall plants to build a larger display.

Build a Fall Porch with More Than Just Mums

We love mums, but some of the best fall displays aren't made from mums alone.

Try combining different elements.

For Traditional Fall Color

Combine orange, yellow, bronze and burgundy mums with ornamental cabbage or kale.

For Something More Dramatic

Use millet for height, celosia for unusual texture and mums around the base.

For Cooler Fall Colors

Mix purple asters or mums with white ornamental cabbage or kale.

For a Large Front Entrance

Start with mixed urns, add individual mums around them, and build outward as more seasonal décor becomes available.

There isn't one correct way to decorate for fall.

That's part of the fun.

Fall Color Isn't Limited to Containers

Mums and seasonal planters naturally get a lot of attention, but fall is also an important time to look at the rest of your property.

Perennials, ornamental grasses, flowering shrubs, evergreens, privacy plants and trees can all contribute to a landscape that looks good beyond one season.

Our perennial selection includes plants such as Black-Eyed Susan, Coneflower, Bee Balm, Coreopsis, Asters, Salvia, Coral Bells, Catmint and many more, along with ornamental grasses and groundcovers.

If you're already walking through the garden center for mums, take a look around the nursery too.

You may find the plant that fills an empty landscape bed, adds privacy, creates fall color, or finally finishes an area you've been looking at all summer.

Fall Is a Great Time to Refresh Your Outdoor Spaces

Late summer and early fall give us an opportunity to look at our properties differently.

Some summer annuals may be getting tired.

Containers may need fresh color.

An entrance that looked great in May might be ready for something completely different by September.

You don't necessarily need to redo everything.

Sometimes replacing a few tired plants, adding several mums, introducing ornamental foliage and refreshing the front entrance is enough to completely change the appearance of the property.

And This Is Only the Beginning of Fall at Maple Leaf Farms

Right now, the flowers and plants are beginning the transformation.

As we move further into the season, Maple Leaf Farms will continue changing with fall displays, décor, seasonal plants and the return of our Fall Fun Fest.

Our 2026 Fall Fun Fest is scheduled for weekends this fall, with pumpkin picking and numerous farm activities and live entertainment planned for the season.

We'll be covering everything happening at Fall Fun Fest separately because there is a lot more to talk about this year.

For now, we're starting with the plants.

Visit Maple Leaf Farms for Fall Flowers & Plants in New Jersey

If you've been waiting for that first sign of fall, it's here.

Come walk through Maple Leaf Farms and explore our early selection of:

Mums • Celosia • Asters • Cannas • Ornamental Cabbage & Kale • Millet • Mixed Fall Baskets • Ready-to-Go Urns • Perennials • Ornamental Grasses • Seasonal Plants & More

We're still early in the season, which means the garden center will continue changing as new fall material arrives.

Specific plants, colors, sizes and varieties are subject to current availability and can change throughout the season.

Maple Leaf Farms Garden Center & Country Store

525 Route 9 South

Manalapan, NJ 07726

Open 7 Days a Week, 9 AM–5 PM based on our current posted hours.

Come enjoy the nicer weather, walk the garden center, find your favorite fall colors and start getting your home ready for one of the best seasons of the year.

Fall flowers and plants are here at Maple Leaf Farms and this is just the beginning.