PLANTS WITH
FALL COLOR
Plants change color because of shorter hours of
sunlight and cooler temperatures. These two
conditions trigger the chlorophyll in the plant to
break down. The pigment that kept the leaves
green throughout the summer now causes the
leaves to turn red, orange, or yellow. The
intensity of the color is controlled by the
weather. A combination of sunny, warm days
and cool nights gives the best color. Of course,
the healthier the tree, the better the color.
Yellow:
Ash (some)
Aspen
Beautyberry
Birch (some)
Bittersweet
Bud’s Yellow Dogwood
Bur Oak
Clethra
Elm
Ginkgo
Hackberry
Hazelnut
Honeylocust
Ironwood
Kentucky Coffeetree
Larch
Linden
Poplar
Swamp White Oak
Variegated Norway Maple
Weeping Mulberry
Weeping Willow
Winterberry
Witch Hazel
Yellow-Orange:
Bridalwreath Spirea
Cotoneaster
Dwarf Fothergilla
Lemon Lights Azalea
Mountain Ash
Nordine Smokebush
Rose (some)
Orange-Red:
Autumn Jazz Viburnum
Boston Ivy
Cotoneaster
Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac
Cutleaf Stephandra
Golden Lights Azalea
Goldflame Spirea
Maples (most)
Plum
Renaissance Spirea
Serviceberry
Spirea (some)
Staghorn Sumac
Thornless Hawthorn
Orange-Scarlet:
Crimson Pygmy Barberry
Cutleaf Smooth Sumac
Fragrant Sumac
Smooth Sumac
Scarlet:
Amur Maple
Compact Burning Bush
Henry’s Garnet Sweet spire
Red:
American Cranberry Viburnum
Burning Bush
Compact American Viburnum
Dwarf Bush Cranberry
European Mountain Ash
Glossy Black Chokeberry
Little Henri Sweetspire
Little Princess Spirea
Northern Pin Oak
Rose Glow Barberry
Showy Mountain Ash
Wentworth Viburnum
Red-Purple:
Aglo Rhododendron
Anthony Waterer Spirea
Arrowwood Viburnum
Chokeberry
Dogwood (some)
Engelman Ivy
Isanti Dogwood
Miss Kim Lilac
Mohican Viburnum
Nannyberry Viburnum
Neon Flash Spirea
Northern Hi-Lights Azalea
Pagoda Dogwood
PJM Rhododendron
Red Twigged Dogwood
Virginia Creeper
White Lights Azalea
White Oak
Perennials with Fall Color:
Artemesia - foliage
Bergenia - foliage
Cimicifuga foliage & flower
Euphorbia - foliage
Festuca (Grass) - foliage
Heuchera - foliage
Hibiscus foliage & flower
Lamium - foliage
Polemonium - foliage
Sedum foliage & flower