It&rsquo;s September. Time to plant mums.</p><p>Or maybe it&rsquo;s time to be different.</p><p>Sure, chrysanthemums &ldquo;have become synonymous with fall,&rdquo; says Dennis Patton, Johnson County horticultural agent. They&rsquo;ve become the traditional fall flower, with many varieties available in autumn shades such as yellow, orange and bronze.</p><p>Some types are also hardy enough to survive the first frost and the often cool overnight temperatures of a Kansas City autumn.</p><p>But mums are everywhere. And they&rsquo;re certainly not the only choice for fall gardens in Kansas City.</p><p> &ldquo;Think outside the box,&rdquo; recommends Wendy Clay, a Johnson County Master Gardener in Lenexa.</p><p>Ironically, mums aren&rsquo;t even native to Kansas and Missouri; they&rsquo;re originally from Asia. Though a perennial, &ldquo;they&rsquo;re treated as a disposable annual,&rdquo; Patton says. </p><p>When planted in the fall, mums don&rsquo;t have time to develop a deep-enough root system that would allow them to make it through a typical Kansas City winter.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">What else is there?</span></strong></p><p>If not mums, then what? There are plenty of cool-loving plants that can thrive in falling autumn temperatures. Here are some that local experts recommend.</p><p><strong>Asters.</strong> &ldquo;They&rsquo;re a natural prairie plant,&rdquo; says Greg Schroer, horticulturist at Family Tree Nursery in Overland Park, with certain varieties native to this area. You&rsquo;ll see them growing wild in the fall. They also resemble mums, with a similar shape to the flowers. </p><p>&ldquo;But asters are actually hardier than mums,&rdquo; with a better chance of surviving the winter. </p><p>If you do want these perennials to last from year to year, though, it&rsquo;s still best to plant them in the spring, giving the plants time to develop a root system.</p><p>So why have mums overtaken asters in the fall popularity contest? Asters don&rsquo;t come in those autumn hues as mums do. You&rsquo;ll be choosing from blues, purples, pinks and whites in plants that vary from 1 to 5 feet tall.</p><p><strong>Ornamental kale and cabbage.</strong> These cold-weather loving plants will add color through November.</p><p> &ldquo;They can go through Thanksgiving, depending on winter conditions,&rdquo; Patton says.</p><p><strong>Ornamental peppers. </strong>These also will add color.</p><p> &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll get reds and oranges,&rdquo; Clay says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re just gorgeous.&rdquo;</p><p><strong>Pansies. </strong>&ldquo;They go gangbusters in early spring,&rdquo; Patton says, but because autumn often has a longer period of cool temperatures than the spring, pansies will last and last.</p><p>&ldquo;Sometimes they&rsquo;ll even make it through the winter,&rdquo; Schroer says. &ldquo;It depends on how hard the winter is.&rdquo;</p><p>Molly Fusselman, horticulture educator for the University of Missouri Extension in Blue Springs, recommends mulching pansies with hay or evergreen boughs through the winter. That way, they&rsquo;ll bloom again in spring, until &ldquo;the plants inevitably succumb to summer heat.&rdquo;</p><p><strong>Diascia.</strong> This low-growing flower is another cool season annual that likes the lower temperatures of fall. The blooms come in pinks, whites or blues.</p><p><strong>Nemesia. </strong>Like diascia, this cool-loving annual comes in pinks, blues and mauves.</p><p><strong>Calendula.</strong> Yet another cool-loving annual, this one, however, comes in those traditional fall colors of yellows and oranges. It has large blooms, &ldquo;with a Gerber daisy look,&rdquo; Patton says.</p><p><strong>Salvias.</strong> Several varieties, such as Mexican bush sage, bloom into late summer and early fall, Schroer says.</p><p><strong>Snapdragons.</strong> Although often considered a summer annual, these can tolerate a light frost.