Come autumn, I’m more of a menace behind the wheel than usual. I like to keep one eye trained on sunny fields and another on roadside ditches, looking for wildflowers. As the days shorten, Mother Nature shoves her pastel crayons to the back of the box, and she draws flowers with intense primary colors—yellow, purple and blue. These beauties consort with ripening grasses, now tinted wine-red and amber. It’s a look that’s easy to mimic in the garden, using both native and non-native perennial plants.

The so-called “short day” plants of autumn are genetically programmed to set flower buds when there are fewer daylight hours. Chrysanthemums are the most familiar examples. Beginning in September, they bloom in a range of pale or vivid hues. Chrysanthemum ‘Ryan’s Yellow’, named for local garden designer Ryan Gainey, is lemony. ‘Ryan’s Pink’ is a medium pink and has probably been grown in the region for generations. Nippon Daisy (Chrysanthemum nipponicum) produces large white daisies on two-foot stems. Garden-type mums (“mum” being a term of endearment) grow into soft mounds that sprawl a bit, and they make good cut flowers, as well.

More than 40 Asters inhabit Georgia’s sun-drenched natural areas. They blossom abundantly in blue, purple, pink and white, but they are lanky plants and are susceptible to foliage diseases. Look for more tidy, disease-resistant selections, the ones with descriptive names. Asters ‘Wood’s Pink’ and ‘Wood’s Purple’ stay under two feet in height. The lovely lavender-blue Aster ‘English Countryside’ isn’t English at all, but a selection of a reliable Georgia species named for Ann English of Athens. With their bright yellow centers, Asters are stunning planted with Goldenrod (Solidago).

Perennial Sunflowers (Helianthus) are native to Georgia, and their warm yellow daisies invariably make me smile in fall. Swamp Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius) is adapted to bogs and wet ditches, but it also flourishes with average moisture. This statuesque perennial (expect six feet, at least) produces hundreds of two-inch flowers in September and October. An introduction from the legendary plantsmen at Goodness Grows, Helianthus ‘Marc’s Apollo’, is equally tall with lemon yellow flowers. Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) produces yellow daisies and a potato-like edible root. It was documented by Lewis and Clark and has been savored by country folk in Georgia for generations. Try combining Sunflowers with purple ironweed (Vernonia), blue hardy Ageratum (Eupatorium coelestinum) or a Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) in purple or magenta.

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ was bred in Europe, where it actually flowers in autumn. For us it is a summer bloomer, but its dried flower heads provide interest late in the season. The plant’s succulent, pale green foliage accounts for its ability to withstand drought. The broccoli-like clusters of buds change from green to pale pink and, finally, to russet. Autumn Joy’s coarse appearance is a nice foil for fine-textured grasses.

Native or not, grasses really hit their stride in fall. Their slender blades and billowing foliage complement just about any bloomer. But the best grasses undergo an amazing transformation in autumn. Their blossoms—feathery, fan-shaped, or bottlebrush—command our attention, and their foliage takes on new coloration. Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) makes a 30-inch mound of slender green blades. In late August, it blooms with plumes of reddish-purple. When temperatures plunge in winter, the entire plant looks like spun straw. American Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum) is a slender, upright species that’s easy to tuck into a border. ‘Shenandoah’ Switch Grass displays tinges of red in summer and turns more like purple in fall.

With all summer to grow, fall-blooming perennials tend toward the tall side. Cut them back several times early in the season to produce shorter plants and to encourage branching. Make the last pruning by August 1 so they will bloom on schedule in your homemade meadow.