Best Plants for Fall Foliage Colors

Maple Trees

Maples, scientific name Acer, including Japanese maples. Depending on the variety, maples turn reds, yellows, or shades of bronze. Some hybrids have patterned leaves. Check out leaf shapes, summer color, fall foliage color, and whether it is hardy in your area, before choosing one to brighten up your landscape. Maples live decades and will get quite large, so plan to enjoy your tree for years and years.

Redbud Trees

Redbuds, genus Cercis, are native American trees. In the wild, their leaves turn from a strong medium green to bright yellow, but cultivars of redbuds have the most amazing leaf colors and patterns. These range from changes in color from spring to summer to fall, to green turning orange, brilliant red, or nearly purple in the fall, to red or golden leaves all year that intensify in fall. Some have multicolored leaves. Lots of choices, enjoy the process and pick carefully. Redbuds only grow to about 25’ high so they will form a dramatic accent in the yard rather than a big shade tree. The change to a striking fall foliage color as winter approaches is amazing.

Dogwood Trees and Shrubs

Dogwoods, Cornus, have varieties with green, yellow, and variegated leaves during the spring and summer which turn a handsome yellow or red or purple in the fall. Dogwoods can be grown either as trees or kept trimmed as shrubs. Read carefully to understand the fall foliage colors of the particular variety, its size, and hardiness to get the plant you will love for years.

More Shrubs with Fall Color

For medium-sized shrubs, hydrangea paniculata and quercifolia species come in a variety of foliage colors that turn diverse colors in fall. Handsome plants during spring and summer, they will provide a shot of another shade as the seasons change. Barberries, Berberis, are famous for turning a rich red in fall, but modern varieties turn yellow, or gold, or orange, so there is a wide range of choices to fit your design. Likewise, Euonymus are called burning bushes because of the fiery scarlet they turn in fall. You can’t go wrong adding any of these for fall foliage color accents. Burning bush is now available in a seedless variety.

Fall-flowering Bulbs

Finally, don’t forget to add fall-flowering bulbs, in particular autumn crocus Colchicum, which suddenly appear as the days cool, leaping out of the ground with large pink-purple flowers. I planted them, but their reappearance each fall is always a happy surprise.