Fall Plants With Colorful Leaves

Red Foliage: Trees

• The Japanese maple offers showy foliage not only during the autumn, but at other times of the year as well. Several varieties sport striking crimson leaves throughout the growing season, while others have green, purple or even marbled leaves that turn red or yellow in the fall. Sweet gum is another tree with vibrant red and multicolored autumn leaves. It makes a good shade tree, but some homeowners find the spiny, woody fruit dropped by the tree to be a nuisance in the yard.

Red Foliage: Shrubs

• For red fall foliage closer to the ground, consider planting Virginia rose, a spreading shrub with dark green leaves that change to a reddish-purple in the fall. The plant produces five-petaled pink blooms with yellow centers in the summertime. Crimson pygmy Japanese barberry is a compact shrub with small red berries and bronze-tinged, crimson leaves when grown in the sun, and red-green leaves when grown in the shade.

Yellow Foliage: Trees

• The tuliptree is a large tree that grows to between 90 and 150 feet tall with a massive trunk. Its tulip-shaped leaves turn a striking clear or gold-tinged shade of yellow in the fall. In addition, it produces tuliplike yellow flowers in the late spring, though most are borne near the top of the tree. The Norway maple is not as large, reaching heights of 40 to 50 feet. It produces the distinctive winged seeds of all maples in late summer before turning yellow in the autumn.

Yellow Foliage: Shrubs

• Witch hazel straddles the border between being a shrub and a small tree. It produces distinctive, ribbonlike yellow blooms in the fall before the leaves turn yellow. The plant emits a pleasant aroma and provides seeds that feed wildlife. Spicebush is another shrub with yellow autumn foliage. It is also pleasantly aromatic and produces red berries, called drupes, that are eaten avidly by several bird species. Spicebush grows best in moist or marshy conditions.