This fall has truly been a beautiful season to cap off a tough 6 months. Pictures all over social media are highlighting the vibrant colors from trees and shrubs showing off in all their glory. If you are looking at your yard and deciding that you don’t have enough color this fall, let’s do something about it!
Introducing fall color can be done with several different types of plants including perennials, trees and shrubs. Having a good selection of perennials, shrubs and trees provides a truly aesthetic approach to giving your landscape a variety of texture and color. When we help customers design their landscape we urge you to plant plants that will give you color and interest all season, so while not all plants will be flowering during the entire season, color will always be produced.
Plants that will reliably give you fall color include:
Maple
We love the variety Fall Fiesta, but don’t overlook Brandywine, Northwood and Hot Wings. All of these varieties have characteristics that benefit certain areas of your landscape if it is a smaller area or large. While they all end up being red, varieties such as Fall Fiesta and Northwood will start their fall color transitions with yellow and orange tones.
Buckeye
The Buckeye is easily one of the most beautiful fall colored trees. This is not a large tree and is considered a slow growing tree. However, the fall color is worth the slow growth. The round habit will mature with fall color in traditional and vibrant orange hues.
Barberry
Yes, barberry are those annoying shrubs with small thorns that undoubtedly stick you when you trim them. Most varieties have a coloring in the burgundy and chartreuse families. However, when fall approaches these colors change to brilliant oranges and reds. Don’t overlook these beauties to not only give you a complimentary color during the spring and summer but beautiful contrasts in the fall!
Cranberry Bush (Viburnum)
Known for its reliable hardiness the Cranberry bush can be used in a variety of applications and keeps a deep green color all spring and summer. When fall comes along though, the vibrant red is a showstopper. Plant this plant someplace where it has room to grow as it will grow to 5-6 feet.
Aster
We often get the question of what shrub is covered in blooms this fall. This is not a shrub, it is in fact a perennial. This perennial will flower from early fall through much of the fall shaking off cold temps and blooming right through them. Use this perennial as a statement for fall as it definitely will show off with its blooms of either pink or purple.
This is just a short list of plants that will give you some great fall color. In case you are wondering, planting can be done in the fall too. As long as the ground is not frozen you can successfully plant trees, shrubs and perennials.
