Ok people, now that it’s almost Halloween and the changing of seasons is in full swing for many places across the US, what are some of your favorite native plants for stunning fall color? I know this is a hard one, my answers can and do change day by day.
For now I’ll go with these:
Tree: Oxydendrum arboreum (sourwood) turns earlier than most other trees and stays beautiful till the very end of the season. Great variation in color from peachy gold to fire engine red to deep crimson.
Shrub: Viburnum acerifolium (maple leaf viburnum) an unexpected beauty whose leaves can range from red to solid pink to an almost whiteish pale yellow. Great color even in full shade.
Herbaceous: I gotta give it up for the ferns, hay-scented, cinnamon and royal fern all have some delightful shades they display at the end of the season. Many other ferns have a very attractive piecemeal changing of their fronds as well, going through a patchwork transformation of greens, browns, tans and golds.
Pictured: Osmunda spectabilis (American royal fern)
by Arnoglossum
16 Comments
Sassafrass has some of the most stunning fall colors! I don’t have a photo but here’s a blog post I found with some good ones: https://amycampion.com/seduced-by-sassafras/
Native smoke tree has beautiful color https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cotinus/cotinus-obovatus/
Sweet gum tree and oak leaf hydrangeas both native to SE US
Winged/Shining sumac turns a brilliant bright red and displays a stunning ombré effect as it’s turning. 😍
I’ve heard many good things about Hamamelis virginiana
But my fave is my Gentiana andrewsii
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I know it‘s basic, but red maples and sugar maples are always so stunning to see – especially in dense groupings.
Vine maples – red in full sun or yellow in the shade
My serviceberry was gorgeous this year. I also have four different varieties of Vaccinium corymbosum in a little grove that are still turning all sorts of shades of red. My Pagoda dogwood was another stunning transition
Black Huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata), Blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), and Blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium) have some of my favorite reds.
It’s inconsistent but Ironwood/American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) can have a beautiful mixture of yellows and oranges that can look amazing next to rocky streams.
And one cannot discount red maple, sugar maple, dogwood, as well as some of our oaks (scarlet for example). I appreciate the yellows of hickory too.
Others have already mentioned sweet gum, sumac, and sassafras.
Viburnums, American Hazelnut, serviceberries, Musclewood, Sumacs, silver and sugar maple, common ninebark, the list could just keep going and going.
I looove my Little Bluestem.
vermonter here – maple are the bessst
Smooth and staghorn sumac. Tupelo aka black gum. I love reds. <3
Looooooove a good dogwood
virginia creeper and blueberries!
Most people understandably associate “fall color” with the changing leaves, so I’ll do something different and mention the blooms of witch hazel.
Mine is flowering profusely right now in upstate New York, and it just started last week.
It’s cool to have a native plant that flowers so late in the year (even after the asters and goldenrods have finished). And the weird, spidery flowers go so well with the season.