Who needs Mums anyway?!

When falls comes everybody I know runs to the stores and buys mums! They feel that the mums are the quintessential must have annual or perennial for their fall garden and pots. The mums do come in lots of bright colors and are forced by the growers to bloom with lots and lots of flowers. So you have about a month of color and then what?
A lot of people ask me what to do with them around October? Are my mums hardy? Can I plant them in the garden? Will these come back? My answers are :" Plant them in the ground! I don't know if they are hardy! Did you save the tag?", " I recommend planting them as soon as the stores have them for sale around August (not October)" and "Not very likely that these will come back considering the late time of planting unless we have a very mild winter or you have a protected sunny spot where you plant them"

But what is so exciting about the moms anyway?
I have so many other favorites for fall that I don't even turn my head when I see mums in stores or gardens.
Look at the fall anemones for example! These are elegant perennial plants- which means that you will have them year after year. The fall japanese anemones come in more than one color ..softer colors that the moms for sure.  The leaves are very nice shape dark green and create a great contrast to other perennial foliage in the garden. The flowers  are simple or with double petal, large and somewhat airy. The center of the flower has such beautiful intricate detail! You can buy taller varieties for the back of the border or medium and smaller varieties that can also be used in your pots combinations. The colors available are white, light pink  and deep pink.
Check out a few I grow:

Anemone x hybrida "Pretty Lady Diana"

Anemone x hybrida "Serenade" 

Anemone hybrida "Whirlwind"

Anemone x hybrida "Party Dress"

Anemone tomentosa "Robustissima"

If you are a mum lover or grower you would argue: but what about the pots? What am I supposed to plant in the pots for fall?  My answer to that is: be wise when planting your pots in the late spring and add enough interesting foliage plants that will carry your pots look through the fall without another needed investment.
Add grasses, coleus plants that come in many many shapes and colors and you are set for fall.
Here are some of my pots! Good enough for fall you think?

Leave me a comment if you are interested in the name of the plants that I have in the pots!