Brilliant, blazing color – it’s one of the first things that comes to mind when we think of fall. Throughout September and October, Mother Nature celebrates another successful growing season with a stunning display of rich, radiant color. The landscapes around our own homes can join in too. Here, we share a few of our favorite trees and shrubs – with fall foliage in warm reds, glowing oranges, and eye-popping yellows – to add fiery late-season color to your outdoor spaces.
Vibrant Red
From bright scarlet to burgundy and deep, purplish-wine, fall brings a beautiful variety of warm red tones to our landscapes. Red maple trees lead the way in this category. Autumn Blaze® maple is a popular example, but there are others too, including Red Sunset® and Redpointe®. Red oak also displays red fall foliage – and because oaks support a variety of native caterpillars, it’s a valuable addition to bird-friendly landscapes. Red oak also colors up later in the season than the maples – extending fall’s beauty well into November and beyond.
If you’re looking for red in a smaller package, burning bush – including ‘Little Moses’ and ‘Fireball’ – is a classic choice for adding a brilliant red accent to the yard. For something a little different, look for a sweetspire shrub like ‘Little Henry’ or ‘Henry Garnett.’ And viburnums are a diverse and versatile group of shrubs – available in a variety of sizes, bloom styles, and berry colors. In the fall, their foliage turns to shades of burgundy, wine, and orange-red, depending on the variety. ‘Korean Spice’ is one of our favorites.
Fiery Orange
The color we tend to most closely associate with autumn is orange – the color of pumpkins and crackling bonfires. Along with the red maples, sugar maples are the stars of the show in the fall landscape, giving us shades of vivid, glowing orange. Pacific Sunset® maple is a great example. Its magnificent orange fall-foliage – tinted with yellow and red – glows like fire above your landscape.
For shrubs, we think you’ll love fothergilla, a lovely choice that produces abundant, fragrant bottlebrush-blooms during the growing season, but bursts out in rich, fiery oranges, yellows, and reds when temperatures begin to drop. Nursery Yard team member Tom Anderson says fothergilla isn’t as well-known as some other shrubs, but it should be. According to Tom, fothergilla’s vivid foliage glows like a torch when backlit by the rising or setting sun. If you’d like something with standout color from spring through fall, try ‘Golden Spirit’ – a variety of smoke bush that spends all summer covered in bright yellow foliage turning to brilliant shades of orange, amber, and scarlet in the fall. And serviceberry is a regional native that produces edible fruit – for us and the birds – and dramatic reddish-orange fall foliage. Serviceberry is a versatile plant available in multiple forms ranging from shrubs to small single- and multi-stem trees. If you’re looking for a large shrub, try ‘Regent’ – one of our favorites. Among the many tree-form varieties, ‘Autumn Brilliance’ is a popular choice.
Golden Yellow
An autumn palette wouldn’t be complete without the brightest color of them all – glowing sunshine yellow. For one of the most majestic displays of yellow fall color, you won’t be disappointed with ginkgo. Ginkgo is a fascinating tree – it’s actually a type of deciduous conifer, and its unusual fan-shaped leaves dance in the wind as they turn a vivid yellow in the fall. Kentucky coffee tree is a Midwest native that produces golden yellow fall foliage and interesting brown seed pods. If you don’t want the pods though, look for the seedless ‘Espresso’ cultivar. And if raking leaves isn’t your favorite chore, honey locust might be your choice for yellow fall foliage. After they fall, the tiny golden-yellow leaflets disappear quickly with those gusty autumn breezes.
For something smaller in the landscape, try summersweet, a deciduous shrub that produces sweetly fragrant panicles of white blooms in the late summer – appreciated by bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. In the fall, summersweet’s foliage turns to pretty shades of yellow and golden brown.
Celebrate Fall with Amazing Color
Fall is a fantastic time to plant, and there’s still plenty of time to add trees and shrubs to your landscape this year. In addition to foliage, there are lots of other possibilities for adding fall color to your landscape, including late-blooming varieties – like seven-son flower and rose of Sharon. Or shrubs with attractive fall berries – like beautyberry or viburnum. For more ways to create show-stopping fall color around your home, stop in and talk with our Nursery Yard team – we’ll be glad to help.
