Plants for Fall Colour

As we plan our gardens, it’s easy to focus on the vibrant blooms of spring and summer, but the fall season often gets overlooked. However, autumn offers a unique opportunity to introduce warm, rich colours to your garden. While mums are a popular choice, they’re far from the only option. By adding a variety of trees, shrubs, and perennials, you can create a stunning fall display that extends the beauty of your garden well into the cooler months. From the fiery hues of maples and oaks to the deep purples and golds of asters and sedums, there’s a wide array of plants that can bring your garden to life in the autumn season.

Perennials for Fall Colour

Asters

Asters are a fall garden favourite, offering daisy-like blooms in shades of purple, blue, pink, and white. These perennials typically reach a height of 2 to 3 feet with a similar spread, thriving in full sun to partial shade. They prefer well-drained soil and moderate watering, making them a versatile choice for autumn colour.

Rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susan)

Rudbeckias, with their bright yellow petals and dark centres, bring warmth and cheer to the fall garden. They typically grow 2 to 3 feet tall and spread about 1.5 to 2 feet. These sun-loving plants prefer full sun and well-drained soil, requiring regular watering, especially during dry periods.

Chrysanthemums (Mums)

Chrysanthemums, or mums, are a classic for fall gardens, bursting into a riot of colours like red, orange, yellow, and purple. They typically grow 1 to 3 feet tall and spread about 2 to 3 feet wide. Mums thrive in full sun and need regular watering, especially during dry spells, to maintain their vibrant blooms.

Sedum (Stonecrop)

Sedum, particularly varieties like ‘Autumn Joy,’ is known for its fleshy, succulent leaves and rich, deep pink blooms that gradually turn to a russet hue as the season progresses. This hardy plant grows about 1.5 to 2 feet tall with a spread of 1.5 to 2 feet, preferring full sun and well-drained soil. Sedum is drought-tolerant, requiring only occasional watering.

Heuchera (Coral Bells)

Heucheras are prized for their striking foliage, which comes in shades of red, purple, and bronze that intensify with cooler fall weather. These compact plants typically reach 1 to 1.5 feet in height and spread, making them perfect for borders or containers. They do best in partial shade and require well-drained soil with moderate watering.

Japanese Anemones

Japanese Anemones produce delicate, windflower-like blooms in late summer and continue into fall, offering shades of white, pink, and purple. They grow about 2 to 4 feet tall with a spread of 1 to 2 feet, thriving in partial shade to full sun. These perennials prefer consistently moist, well-drained soil and benefit from regular watering.

Echinacea (Coneflower)

Echinaceas are known for their spiky centres and vibrant petals, offering long-lasting colour in the garden. They grow about 2 to 4 feet tall with a spread of 1.5 to 2 feet, thriving in full sun and well-drained soil. Echinaceas are drought-tolerant once established, needing only occasional watering.

Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental grasses are a fantastic addition to the fall garden, providing texture, movement, and subtle colour. Varieties like Miscanthus and Panicum showcase golden, bronze, and burgundy tones as the weather cools, adding a dynamic element to your landscape. These grasses typically reach heights of 3 to 6 feet with a spread of 2 to 4 feet, thriving in full sun with minimal watering, making them a low-maintenance option for lasting autumn beauty.

Trees & Shrubs for Fall Colour

Dwarf Burning Bush

There are few shrubs that can compare to burning bush for adding fall colour to the landscape.  Its dark green leaves take on the most brilliant scarlet colour in late fall.  Dwarf Burning Bush is a small deciduous shrub that grows compactly and makes a sensational accent in the late-season landscape.  Burning Bush are very easy to grow – all they need is a sunny spot with well-drained soil. Grows 1.5m high & wide.

Ivory Halo Dogwood

Here we have a shrub for all seasons.  From spring the fall, this shrub has brightly variegated silver-edged leaves that will brighten any garden space.  As the leaves fade and fall, bright red stems are revealed which provide excellent contrast all winter. Ivory Halo is a compact selection that does well in both sun or shade.  (1.5m high & wide).

Limelight Hydrangea

Every garden needs a few hydrangeas and Limelight is one of the very best.  A late-blooming variety with bright white flowers with a lime-green tinge that changes to shades of pink in fall. Limelight is a vigorous shrub with strong sturdy stems that hold the flowers upright.  Prefers full sun to light shade.  Grows 2.5 m high & wide.

Sweetspire Little Henry

This is a shrub that often goes unnoticed for much of the year but deserves more recognition.  Sweetspire is native which puts on a show of fragrant white blooms in early summer.  In fall, the leaves turn a brilliant scarlet red.  Little Henry Sweetspire is a dwarf variety that grows approximately 1 metre high and wide.  Does best in moist well-drained soils but can tolerate even wet conditions in full sun to full shade.

Sumac Tiger Eyes

What a great plant for year-round colour, texture and interest.  Tiger Eye Sumac has deeply cut leaves, chartreuse in colour turning yellow in summer.  As fall approaches the foliage changes to an amazing mixture of gold, orange and scarlet.  This variety grows eventually to 2m high and wide.  Like other Sumac, Tiger Eye does spread by sending out root suckers. So you may need to cut these volunteers back if you wish to keep this plant in a confined space.  Slow spreading. Full sun to part shade.  Zone 5

Englemann Ivy

Vines are very versatile plants that are used everywhere in our landscapes.  Among them, Englemann Ivy is one of the best.  This hardy adaptable vine can handle the harshest conditions. Englemann Ivy can handle full sun to full shade. An excellent climbing vine that will attach itself to nearly any surface.   Perfect for growing up sides of houses, along fences, over arbours and up trees.  Foliage is a rich deep green in summer turning red to purple in fall. Grows 15m high.

Ginkgo Tree

Here is a tree that has stood the test of time. Ginkgo is an ancient tree known for its resistance to disease and insect pests. Ginkgoes are very adaptable to adverse growing conditions and can tolerate just about any soil but are constantly wet.  During the spring and summer, the tree has a very unique green fan-shaped leaf. In fall these leaves turn the purest yellow. Then within a day or so, all the leaves seem to fall in unison. Ginkgo is relatively slow growing but patience is rewarded as the tree takes on a beautiful size and shape. It eventually can reach a height of 15 metres and a width of 6 metres.

Sugar Maple

When one thinks of trees with colourful fall foliage, Sugar Maple has to be at the top of the list. Here in Ontario, sugar maples make up a large part of our native forest. It is these trees that turn those amazing shades of yellow, orange and red in the fall.  Sugar maples are also known as hard maple which references their strong and durable wood. Being a hardwood, they tend to have a slower growth rate than other trees but over time they can reach 20m high, and 12m wide.