Plants for Fall Color

It's easy enough to find plants that put on a show during the Spring and Summer months, but it can be a bit more of a challenge to inject interest and color into the Fall landscape. Here, we've rounded up species which might bring an added element of color via their fruit, flowers, and changing foliage.

 

Trees

• Carya illinoinensis – pecan (yellow foliage)
• Cotinus coggygria – smoketree (flowers)
• Fraxinus pennsylvanica – green ash (yellow foliage)
• Ginkgo biloba – ginkgo (yellow foliage)
• Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis – honey locust (yellow foliage)
• Ilex decidua – possumhaw (fruit)
• Liquidambar styraciflua – sweetgum (red foliage)
• Pistacia chinensis – Chinese pistache (fruit and foliage)
• Populus deltoids – Eastern cottonwood (yellow foliage)
• Pyrus calleryana 'Bradford' – Bradford pear (red foliage)
• Quercus muehlenbergii – chinkapin oak (foliage)
• Quercus shumardii – Shumard oak (red foliage)
• Taxodium distichum – bald cypress (orange foliage)
• Ziziphus jujuba – Chinese date (yellow foliage)

 

Shrubs & Vines

• Hibiscus syriacus – rose of Sharon (foliage)
• Nandina domestica – heavenly bamboo (fruit and foliage)
• Parthenocissus quinquefolia – Virginia creeper (red foliage)
• Pyracantha coccinea – scarlet firethorn (fruit)
• Viburnum x burkwoodii – burkwood viburnum (red foliage)

 

Herbaceous Plants

• Acalypha wilkesiana – copper plant (foliage)
• Artemisia 'Powis Castle' – Powis Castle Artemisia (foliage)
• Aster sp. - hardy aster (flowers)
• Calibrachoa 'Million Bells' – million bells (flowers)
• Chasmanthium latifolium – inland sea oats (seedheads)
• Chrysanthemum x morifolium – hardy chrysanthemum (flowers)
• Hylotelephium spectabile – showy sedum (flowers)
• Miscanthus sinensis – Chinese silver grass (seedheads)
• Miscanthus sinensis 'Variegatus' – variegated Chinese silver grass (seedheads)
• Miscanthus sinensis zebrinus – zebra grass (seedheads)
• Schizachyrium scoparium – little bluestem (foliage)
• Tagetes patula – French marigold (flowers)
• Viola cornuta - Johnny-jump-up (flowers)
• Viola x wittrockiana – pansy (flowers)