Plants for Autumn Colour in the Garden

This season of mists and mellow fruitfulness can be a bit damp and dreary, but its saving grace is a flurry of spectacular leaf colour as trees get ready to shed their leaves for winter.  Here are some of my suggestions for creating a fiery farewell to your summer garden

Most Acers have great autumn foliage colours, but I love watching plain green Acer palmatum dissectum light up in the latter part of the year. 

Euonymus alatus is a wonderful shrub with a layered outline and interesting stems with lateral projections.  It really comes into its own with spectacular fiery autumn foliage earning it the common name of ‘Burning Bush’.  It also has lovely, delicate fruits that the birds feed on through the winter.

Callicarpa bodinerii is notable not for its colourful foliage, but for the clumps of gorgeous bright violet fruits that decorate its bare stems throughout the winter.

Cornus kousa is a fantastic tree for many reasons, not least of which is its deep burgundy red autumn colour. 

Rhus typhina is not a fashionable plant, but you can’t beat it for gorgeous flaming autumn tints.

Ginkgo biloba is a wonderful tree and its lemon yellow autumn foliage is unique and extremely impactful.  If you have the space it’s a must.

Parrotia persica is another spectacular tree with pinkish red flowers on bare stems in late winter/early spring, then lush green leaves throughout the summer that turn yellow, red, orange and purple in the autumn it's a real star. 

Liquidambar styraciflua is a fabulous tree with cork like bark and leaves rather like a maple.  It is renowned for it's deliciously coloured autumn foliage. 

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