Autumn is on the doorstep, and with it will soon come a cacophony of new colour in the garden. This week, we’ve asked our staff for their favourite annuals, perennials, and shrubs that produce attractive fall hues. Our list is a little longer this week (we’re excited about the prospect of cooler temperatures after a scorcher of a summer). You’ll find some old favourites as well as some that may yet be unfamiliar to you.

Brenda’s Pick: Sunsparkler Firecracker Sedum

If you want a colourful groundcover that will tolerate hot and dry locations, the Firecracker should do the trick. It has waxy, deep purple-red rounded leaves that hold their colour from spring through to the fall. They form a dense carpet no more than six inches tall by eighteen wide. It produces small, pink flower clusters in early autumn that add an extra contrasting splash of colour. As you’d expect with any stonecrop, it is remarkably low-maintenance, adjusting to drought conditions with relative ease (though it still does need some water from time to time!).

Devin’s Pick: Deborah Waxman Larch (Treeform)

Larches are one of a few uncommon plants referred to as ‘deciduous conifers’, meaning they produce needles like many other evergreens but drop them all in the fall. Larches are known for their soft, blue-green needles, and many of the weeping varieties are quite popular. Our Deborah Waxman larches, however, are top-grafted on a single stem for added ornamental value. These larches do not weep. Instead, they grow in a tight, near-globular shape. The needles are a beautiful sea-green and they turn bright orange in the fall. They are a perfect small ornamental evergreen for a sunny, moist site.

Ellen’s Pick: Purple Fountain Grass

We all desperately want purple fountain grass to be a perennial, but alas – our winters are just a tad too cold for it. The intense deep purple colour and the soft pink-tan inflorescences it produces in the fall make it well worth the effort of re-planting each year. Purple fountain grass has become a staple of the fall annual garden and is an ideal centrepiece in fall planters. The dark purple colour contrasts well with the brighter red and yellow-foliaged plants we’re used to seeing this time of year.

Irene’s Pick: Crimson Queen Japanese Maple

As far as Japanese maples go, it’s safe to say the most identifiable variety is the Crimson Queen. Customers instantly know it by name and appearance, and it is completely deserving of its reputation. It produces beautiful deeply-dissected red leaves on gracefully weeping branches. The leaves fade to a dark burgundy as the season continues until the fall when they return to their bright red form in a final blaze of glory. With a mature size of around 6 feet tall and wide, they are a great ornamental tree for sheltered, part-shade locations (avoid the hot afternoon sun!).

Jenn’s Pick: Dwarf Burningbush

Dwarf burningbush is a very popular shrub for fall colour. In the fall, the dark green foliage takes on a fire-engine-red colour that lasts until the leaves fall off. New branches also have unusual, corky ‘winged’ bark that adds to the plant’s interest in the winter. Regular burningbush grows upwards of 8 feet tall, but the dwarf variety tapers off around 4-5 feet (a much more manageable size for small gardens). We also carry the cultivar ‘Little Moses’, a new introduction that only grows to be 2-3 feet tall. All varieties exhibit the same beautiful red fall colour.

Lorrie’s Pick: Autumn Fantasy Maple

Freeman maples such as ‘Autumn Fantasy’ are popular hybrids. They are a cross between silver and red maples, retaining many of the qualities of both trees without the drawbacks. They are relatively fast-growing like silver maples but do not have brittle branches and short lifespans. They are reasonably drought-tolerant once established, grow to manageable mature sizes, and last but not least: they have consistent fall colour. The fall colour of many trees can vary from year to year depending on the type of growing season we have – one year it could be yellow, the next it could be red. The Autumn Fantasy reliably produces bright reddish-orange fall colour year after year.

Paul’s Pick: Arnold’s Promise Witch-Hazel

Witch-Hazel is often considered a herald of spring. In Ontario, it produces unique red, orange, or yellow tassel-like flowers in late winter that foretell the arrival of warmer temperatures and stand out in our otherwise barren March gardens. But their fall colour – lesser known – is formidable, often a kaleidoscope of yellows, oranges, reds, and burgundy all on the same plant. Arnold’s Promise is a variety that produces lemon-yellow spring flowers. Plant it in a sunny location with good drainage, and make sure you leave room for it – it makes a magnificent mature shrub, but it does get large!

Sarah’s Pick: Bonfire Perennial Euphorbia

Perhaps the only groundcover for hot and dry locations that could rival the Firecracker for colour is the Bonfire. Also referred to as cushion-spurge, it is a low-growing and low-maintenance perennial that likes hot and dry conditions. In late spring, it produces bright yellow flower bracts and new foliage which emerges bright green before fading to yellow, orange, and eventually deep burgundy. In the fall, the foliage becomes bright red before dying back after a hard frost. This plant is an exceptional easy-care perennial for sunny areas, slowly growing to around a foot and a half tall by three feet wide. It can be pruned back after flowering to prevent the foliage from “flattening out” as the season progresses.

Sylvia’s Pick: Endowment Sugar Maple

If ever there was a ‘classic’ choice of tree for fall colour, sugar maples would be it. Tourists flock to the region in the fall in search of the sugar maple’s beautiful fall colours. ‘Endowment’ is a fast-growing, narrow cultivar great for locations where space is an issue. It has a tight, columnar habit that sets it apart from other sugar maples which can get, well, massive (a regular sugar maple gets 100 feet tall and 65 feet wide!). Conversely, ‘Endowment’ tops out at about 50 feet tall and 20 feet wide. It has deep green leaves typical of the species and bright yellow to orange leaves in the fall.

For more fall annual, perennial, and nursery inspiration, check out our product listing.