The Japanese poetic work, ‘Manyoshu’ published in 759 AD but written 300-400 years prior  selected 7 flowers for Autumn. This corresponds to the 7 Herbs of spring reported on an earlier post.

Autumn has a slight air of melancholy as the summer glory fades and a last bright showing of seed and flower takes pride of place in the garden.

Seven Flowers of Autumn

• Lespedeza, Bush clover
• Miscanthus sensis, Japanese Pampas Grass
• Pueraria Thunbergiana, Kuzu Vine
• Doianthus superbus longicalcinus, the Fringed Pink
• Patrinia scabiosaefolia, Golden Valerian or Golden Lace
• Eupatorium stoechadosmum, Orchid Herb
• Pharbitis, Morning Glory

The names may vary as to  common names or translation. In some parts of Japanese gardening culture there are slight variations to the plants selected. Often Platycodon grandiflora the Balloon Flower is substituted for one of the above species.

Poetry in the Garden

A haiku database has some interesting poems and says about 7 Flowers of Autumn ….’The capacity of the autumn grasses for inspiring deep emotion among people in olden days may be viewed through their composite nature of beauty tinged with sadness. More than flowers of any other season, autumn grasses washed by rain and bent in the wind attain a beauty unsurpassed, and this is the beauty of flowers for the tea ceremony.’