I love the end of summer — the temperatures start to cool off, you can sleep with the windows open and your mind turns to the holidays and family gatherings. Fall is also the perfect time for adding some rich color and texture into the garden! On your next trip to the nursery, look for saturated color, grassy textures and seasonal interest, and your garden will be decked out for the harvest. Here are some of my fall favorites:

Ornamental cabbage and kale is the perfect foil for flowering perennials with rich jewel tones. Their ruffled and lacy foliage add incredible texture, and they have a variety of colors ranging from purple to pink, as well as white and green. Cabbages and kales are perfect for both container plantings and perennial beds, making them a very versatile addition to the fall garden. Combine them with pansie, mums, violas, alyssum and snapdragons.

One of my favorite flowering fall perennials is asters—their little, purple daisy-like flowers bloom in profusion over bushy medium green foliage. If you already have this plant in your garden, hopefully you’ve been pinching the foliage back all summer, creating a tight form. Then, at this time of year, stop pinching and let the plant burst into its fall glory! Plant asters with golden mums or another flowering perennial in yellow tones—the colors are a perfect complement.

Ornamental grasses come into their own in the fall—their wispy seedheads provide movement and texture that is unequalled in any other plant. These grasses can combine beautifully with flowering perennials, or stand on their own in a naturalistic meadow. Choose from an array of green, tan or even pinkish foliage—there is an ornamental grass that is perfect for your garden! Ask for maiden grass, sedge, muhly or fountain grasses at your favorite nursery.