Plants that allow you to enjoy your favorite fall color
Fall foliage turns our landscapes into a palette of autumnal shades. Whether you prefer leaves of brilliant yellow, glowing orange or fiery red, there are trees and shrubs to set your garden ablaze in your favorite fall color.
Yellow fall foliage
The unique, fan-shaped leaves of ginkgo trees turn intense golden yellow in fall. Not a tree for small yards, it slowly grows as tall as 50 feet or more. If you have room for it, a ginkgo tree prefers full sun and is adaptable to most types of soil, except wet. Make sure you purchase a male cultivar. Female trees produce smelly fruit. An interesting bonus of ginkgo trees: they drop all their leaves at once. Raking is one and done.
Vernal witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) can grow up to 10 feet, but typically remain about 6 feet tall. It spreads by suckers to form colonies. Attractive foliage emerges with reddish tints in spring, matures to dark green in summer and turns to rich gold in fall. Vernal witch hazels grow best in rich, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade.
If a smaller shrub is required, plant Hummigbird summersweet (Clethra alnifolia Hummingbird). A three-season performer, it boasts fragrant, white, bottlebrush flowers in summer, pretty, blue-green foliage in summer and dazzling yellow foliage in fall. At just 3 to 4 feet tall, it is ideal for smaller gardens. Hummingbird summersweet is an adaptable shrub, but prefers a spot with light shade and moist, acidic soil.
Orange fall foliage
The first tree that comes to mind when considering trees with orange foliage in fall is the sugar maple. Always majestic, it grows up to 75 feet tall and lights the fall landscape on fire in shades of red, orange or yellow. Purchase one in fall to make sure it blazes orange.
Cotinus coggyrgria Nordine, commonly called Nordine smokebush, is an ideal choice for folks who want to paint their fall landscape orange. The purple-red foliage in spring and summer and large, rosy red, feathery plumes of flowers in summer are also dramatic on this large shrub or small tree, growing up to 15 feet tall and wide. Selected and developed by the Morton Arboretum, Nordine smokebush is gorgeous in spring, summer and fall.
Gro-Low sumac (Rhus aromatica Gro-Low) grows just 2 to 3 feet tall but 5 to 6 feet wide. It is tough, growing in all but soggy soils in full sun or partial shade. It spreads by suckers and is an ideal choice for erosion control on a steep bank or planting as a ground cover. Attractive, but not showy, in spring and summer, it boasts vivid orange fall foliage.
Red fall foliage
Amelanchier Autumn Brilliance, commonly called Autumn Brilliance serviceberry, displays fiery red or reddish-orange foliage in fall. Growing up to 20 feet tall, it is easy to fit in suburban landscapes where it offers interest threefold. An abundance of small white flowers bloom in spring; birds love the purplish-black berries as much as gardeners in late summer; and then there is the finale of fall color. Serviceberries are easy to grow in well-drained soil in full sun to part shade.
Viburnum trilobum, also known as the cranberry bush, parades purplish red fall color. A dense, rounded shrub, it grows 8 to 12 feet tall and is not fussy about its growing conditions, accepting a wide range of soils in either full sun or part shade. White, lace-cap flowers in spring and berries in fall add to its appeal.
Brilliantissima red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia Brilliantissima) shows off clusters of pretty, white flowers in spring but it is chosen for its large glossy red berries and spectacular red fall foliage. Growing 6 to 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide, it is adaptable to a wide range of growing conditions — in full sun or partial shade and average or even wet soils.
• Diana Stoll is a horticulturist, garden writer and speaker. She blogs at gardenwithdiana.com.