Autumn colour

[Paul S]

Thinking caps on, please, please! I am tweaking the bottom strip of my garden to up the level of autumn colour. It runs east/west, so there is a sunnier side and a shadier side. Soil is a sandy clay that gets very dry in summer. Big things are sorted - fiery shades from Liquidamber, Rhus typhina, Cotinus 'Grace' with yellow support from Mallotus japnonicus, Zanthoxylum ailanthoides and Firmiana simplex.

I am looking for smaller shrubs and herbaceous plants that will add some zing from lower down but still have an exotic look about them. I can't grow delicate moisture lovers like Japanese maples, azalea or the like. Euonymus alatus and Berberis thunbergii spring to mind but, dare I say it, are a little pedestrian even though they would do the job. Ribes odoratum sounds good on paper but I've not grown it. Ceratostigma plumbaginoides I have used quite a bit elsewhere. I am thinking some epimedium would fit the bill but I don't know which. I planted Parthenocissus quinquifolia, hoping it would scramble about but it just wants to climb (well, who knew... :D )

Does anyone have personal favouorites they can recommend?

[Chad]

OK,

I think you will need a sense of humour for some of the suggestions, this is a bit subjective.

Several of the flowering cherries do good autumn colour too.  Prunus incisa Kojo-No-Mai is a favorite and is controllable for size.

Great drifts of Nerine bowdenii are affordable and now come in a range of pinks from quite demure to definitely shocking. But be ready for them to flower and then sulk for two or three years after planting.

Miscanthus selections such as 'Indian Summer', or Panicum selections - yellow or red/purple.

Nandina selections.

Blue Picea to set them off?

If your soil is acid, there are a wealth of Ericaceae to consider, though most won't like the dryness. 

We struggle with autumn colour in Cornwall.  Leaves are blown off before they change colour!  Liquidamber is the best bet down here, but it would like hotter summers. 

Chad

[AndyC]

Amicia zygomeris immediately springs to mind because I've just come in from the garden where it is looking good having been flowering for a few months. Reliably root hardy here and in my old garden in north hampshire.

[Paul S]

Amicia is on my list. Cherries do well here but I am sorted for trees. Looking for smaller stuff.

I was thinking more of things that have autumn leaf colour, rather than flowering in autumn. I have Hydrangea quercifolia, for example, although my clone stubbornly refused to colour up. Euonymus, perhaps, but not alata. Berberis, perhaps, but not thunbergii. Grasses are a problem as I have badgers that see them as bedding and can wreck a plant overnight if it takes their fancy. Trying to think of herbaceous perennials that colour up, too - most of the ones I can conjure up need moist soil. At least, moister than here. And all with an exotic twist, although that is subjective.

[MartinNicklin]

Paul my Oxydendrum always gives stunning autumn colour. It’s slow growing but the colour is so intense people comment on it because it stands out amongst the other plants. Plus it has pretty panicles of flowers and that looks fab in years where they persist with the autumn colour. This year for me, no flowers. Too wet and cold? But lovely colour.








For something herbaceous Gillenia trifoliata can have lovely autumn colour.

[JohnH]

One of my favourites at this time of year would be Frangula alnus 'Aspleniifolia' (I bought it as Rhamnus frangula). I do prefer the loose shrub rather than the fastigiate form, but both are nice.

I wonder why your Hydrangea quercifolia doesn't colour up Paul, I grow 2 varieties and both always look amazing. Perhaps they prefer the cooler conditions further north.

There are a couple of boring shrubs that have decent named varieties. Nandina domestica Firepower has a pink version that I grow, whose name has escaped me.. :roll: but it is really nice and less straggly than Firepower can be. Escallonia 'Glowing Embers' is surprisingly bright and compact too.
Are there any smaller Cornus kousa that may work for you?

Of the herbaceous plants several Amsonia have nice autumn colour, I am looking out for hubrichtii next year.

P.S. If you can keep the badgers away, Panicum 'Merlot' develops beautiful maroon leaves at this time of year. I have only grown it for a year, but it is already one of my favourites.

[Paul S]

Thank you for the ideas! The Oxydendron looks lovely, Martin, but I'd worry that it says it needs and moist acid soil, which I don't have. The Gillenia is interesting!

John - the Rhamnus - on the list now, as is the Amsonia. The panicum might actually be worth a shout. I have LOTS of Amenanthele lessoniana which the badgers tend to leave along for some reason, maybe they'll be confused into leaving this.

Berberis gagnepainii var. lanceifolia caught my eye - an evergreen but colours up in autumn/winter. Anyone grown it?

[neIl armstrong]

Extraordinarily colourful with me right now-also startling in the spring
https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/ar ... uccedanea/
Viburnum furcatum pretty good
Huodendrons colouring up ahead of their spring flourish
Impatiens balansae impossibly exotic foliage -and flowers now
Quite a few nice kniphofias start to flower right now-as are polysporas and many of the species camellias-possibly not first choice for Essex though

[Paul S]

That Rhus is astonishing. The others would almost certainly be dry husks by the end of an Essex summer. :lol:

Impatiens balansae used to be one of my 'litmus' plants for watering. As soon as it drooped I knew that part of the garden needed watering. I dug it up and gave it away after finding I needed to water it more than once a day in dry spells

[Chad]

John has pointed out that Neoshirakia japonica would stay in your size range for many years.

He hesitates to recomend it having not grown it himself.

I'd never heard of it and had to look it up!

Chad