The October Edit: What’s Blooming Now
Georgia & Jim @ red maple vineyard
This is the moment we've been waiting for all year. If you're getting married this month, you're in the sweet spot. October delivers the richest textures, the deepest colors, and that unmistakable shift into fall that people travel here to experience.
Bramble berries, rose hips, porcelain berry — they’re not flowers, but they’re some of the most coveted elements in fall arrangements and statement vases. Add in the stunning foliage — burning bush, forsythia turning golden, vibrant maples, wild oats, and fiery sumac — and you get the dramatic, end-of-season look the Hudson Valley is known and loved for.
At the heart of it all: chrysanthemums. Not just the standard pots at the hardware store — we’re talking spider mums in every shade, along with incurve, reflex, decorative, intermediate incurve, pompon, anemone, spoon, and quill varieties. These blooms are showstoppers, and they’re fleeting. They thrive for just a few weeks, and once the first frost hits, everything changes.
We also get one last glorious month of local dahlias — bold, sculptural, and utterly romantic. They’re a signature of the season’s final act, and they won’t be back until next summer.
As outdoor blooms begin to fade, we start turning to hot house-grown varieties like panda anemones, while Japanese anemones continue their outdoor show a bit longer in our zone.
Come November, we’ll begin sourcing more regionally — so now is the time to soak in the last of the local season’s beauty. It’s a floral crescendo, and it’s happening now.
Chrysanthemums
Photos: G3eky Creature, Ashen Earth Floral, Evgeniya Vervega, Unknown, Flickr, Paint Box Scientific name: Chrysanthemum morifolium
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Chrysanthemum
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales
Chrysanthemums are the unsung heroes of the autumn garden — and when cultivated in the Hudson Valley, they reach an entirely different level of beauty. Unlike the generic mums stacked in parking lots, locally grown chrysanthemums come in an incredible range of forms. Each one brings a unique texture and shape to floral work, from dramatic focal points to delicate accents. What surprises most people is that these showy blooms are actually photoperiodic — meaning they only bloom as the days shorten and nights lengthen. That’s why October is their prime moment.
Fruiting Branches
Photo: , Magdalena Vaida, Olmstead Park Conservatory, Grown By YouFruiting branches bring a wild, textural magic to autumn arrangements — a perfect balance of structure and abundance. Rose hips add a splash of rich red or burnt orange, like nature’s own ornaments. Porcelain berry surprises with its speckled blue, lilac, and turquoise hues, often mistaken for something tropical despite being right at home in the Northeast. Bramble berries bring a tangled elegance with arching canes and clusters of deep, inky fruit that feel both rustic and romantic. And elderberry, with its dusky purple-black drupes, adds depth and drama while hinting at herbal folklore. These branches do more than fill space — they create a sense of seasonality, storytelling, and that unmistakable “gathered from the land” feeling that defines fall in the Hudson Valley.
Turning Leaves
Autumn branches are the backbone of seasonal design, grounding arrangements with color and form that can’t be faked. Sumac blazes with feathery plumes of crimson that feel almost sculptural, commanding attention whether used en masse or as a single stem. Oak branches shift through a spectrum of russet, bronze, and gold, their sturdy leaves holding shape long after they’ve turned. And maple, with its iconic star-shaped foliage, explodes into fiery reds and luminous oranges that instantly signal fall at its peak. Together, these branches bring height, drama, and that unmistakable Hudson Valley autumn palette — the kind of natural spectacle people wait all year to see.
As the season winds down, every stem, branch, and berry feels more precious — a reminder that beauty is fleeting and worth savoring. October in the Hudson Valley isn’t just about flowers; it’s about the layers of texture, color, and abundance that come together for one last, breathtaking show. From the intricate forms of chrysanthemums and the final burst of dahlias, to the fruiting branches and fiery autumn foliage, this is nature’s grand finale. Lean into it. Celebrate it. Because once the frost settles in and the landscape quiets, we’ll be dreaming of these colors until next year’s bloom cycle begins.
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Flora Good Times