You Can Grow These 3 Fall Flowers Indoors to Bring Seasonal Color to Your Interiors – Here's How to Keep Them Blooming For Longer

Bring the fall garden landscape into your living room with these blooms

Chrysanthemums grown indoors
(Image credit: Pixel-shot via Alamy)

My indoor garden comes to life in the fall. It's the season when it has my full attention, while I prepare to put my outdoor plants to bed for the coldest months. There's one idea I stumbled across this week that I instantly knew would give my indoor planting a seasonal feel: fall flowers to grow indoors.

From chrysanthemums positioned on either side of a fireplace, to cyclamen in the center of coffee tables and asters bringing a pop of color to your indoor garden, there are a few fall flowers you can grow indoors fairly easily for sensational displays.

Chrysanthemums in wicker basket sitting on a chair

(Image credit: Pixel-shot via Alamy)

3 Fall Flowers to Grow Indoors

I already have some of the best houseplants for fall color in my home, but these fall flowers to grow indoors are going to take my display to the next level. They're perfect for infusing seasonal feeling and color into your interiors for fall hosting. Plus, they're likely to bloom right into winter, and possibly even longer. Having said that, you do have to meet some essential growing requirements to make an indoor setting work.

1. Cyclamen

Cyclamen in terracotta pot

(Image credit: Joe via Alamy)

You can grow indoor cyclamen for blooms that have the potential to last through fall until spring.

They come in a wide range of colors, from reds and pinks to white and purple. They're great for fall flowers to grow indoors because they're quite compact, neatly filling gaps in windowsills or shelves.

Arguably the best type of cyclamen for indoor growing is a florist cyclamen (find an indoor cyclamen plant on Amazon). These are specially bred for long indoor displays, like florist hydrangeas.

And while some fall flowers to grow indoors are best grown as annuals, an indoor cyclamen is uniquely a perennial that can bloom year after year with the right care.

To make indoor growing a success, choose a bright spot that is out of direct sunlight. A direct sun position could cause leaf scorch for your cyclamen.

You should also only water your cyclamen when the top inch of soil has dried out. I always use this soil moisture meter from Amazon for any plants I grow indoors, which helps to identify when exactly it's time to top up water levels.

2. Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums on dining table

(Image credit: Pixel-shot via Alamy)

A personal favorite and all-time classic for fall, you can grow chrysanthemums indoors easily. With a bushy habit, they'll instantly create drama among your indoor plants.

What I love most about chrysanthemums is the fall color they provide, including white, yellow, red, orange, and even pink. It's also easy to grow chrysanthemums in pots, so they're easy to bring indoors for fall displays.

To make indoor mums a success, make sure to choose the right varieties. Some of the most suited to indoor growing include florist pot mums (like this plant from Walmart), button mums, and dwarf mums. They're best treated as annuals for indoor growing.

Make sure they get at least five hours of sunlight a day and are kept away from cold drafts and windows. You can also deadhead chrysanthemums regularly to encourage new blooms throughout fall. You can do this by pinching spent blooms or use these pruning snips from Amazon.

Our guide to chrysanthemum mistakes also applies to indoor mums.

3. Asters

Asters growing in yellow pot

(Image credit: Westend61 GmbH via Alamy)

The final plant on my list of fall flowers to grow indoors is aster, one of the brightest fall flowers for pots that can be incorporated into indoor settings.

Of course, there are lots of different aster varieties, including climbing asters. The best for indoor growing are compact and shorter in stature, like Italian asters or dwarf asters (from Amazon).

They're best grown as annuals indoors because they rely on a period of cold winter dormancy outdoors for perennial blooming.

To grow and care for asters indoors, choose a bright position, as they do best with six hours of indirect sunlight daily. Bear in mind daylight is limited in the fall, so you may consider using a grow light for houseplants above your indoor asters.

You should also keep their soil consistently moist but not waterlogged, which could result in root rot.

The key to success with indoor asters is moderate humidity. If you have drier rooms in your home, consider placing the asters on a pebble tray (from Amazon) to boost humidity levels.

While not the easiest fall flower to grow indoors, if you can maintain ideal conditions, you can enjoy asters as part of your indoor plant display for fall.

FAQs

Can I Plant Out Indoor Fall Flowers?

This depends on the type of fall flowers you're growing indoors. Some florist flowers (including florist pot mums and florist cyclamen) are not necessarily bred to thrive in outdoor conditions, but rather grown for a long-flowering indoor display. However, it is possible to grow some asters indoors for fall and then plant them out in spring (after frost). This will allow it time to establish in the ground before fall.


There's no doubt that fall flowers to grow indoors will capture the attention of your guests and enhance the fall feeling of your home. Many of the items on our fall houseplant care checklist also apply to these indoor blooms, which will help you achieve the longest display possible.

Shop Indoor Gardening Accessories:

Tenielle Jordison
Gardens Content Editor

Tenielle is a Gardens Content Editor at Homes & Gardens. She holds a qualification in MA Magazine Journalism and has over six years of journalistic experience. Before coming to Homes & Gardens, Tenielle was in the editorial department at the Royal Horticultural Society and worked on The Garden magazine. As our in-house houseplant expert, Tenielle writes on a range of solutions to houseplant problems, as well as other 'how to' guides, inspiring garden projects, and the latest gardening news. When she isn't writing, Tenielle can be found propagating her ever-growing collection of indoor plants, helping others overcome common houseplant pests and diseases, volunteering at a local gardening club, and attending gardening workshops, like a composting masterclass.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.