Trees & Shrubs for Brilliant Fall Colors in Sudbury

Fall is one of the best times of year for gardeners to enjoy the splendid displays of nature’s beauty while thinking of how they can improve the colors of their own gardens.

Autumn is my favorite time of year for planting trees and shrubs. If you can bear the mosquitoes you will find that most anything you stick in the ground will grow this time of year. Of course some of us can stick a fence post into the ground and it will sprout leaves.  But for those of you who have two black thumbs there is hope if you plant in the fall.

Visitors from other parts of the country are drawn away from the yellows of their own forests to New England for the vivid reds, scarlets, oranges, yellow-oranges, and copper colors. While much of the display comes from the native trees a lot of the texture comes from shrubs and vines, many of them put in place by you and me.

My list of the top flowering trees, shrubs and vines for the Sudbury gardener would fill a couple of legal pads, but here are some of the outstanding favorites. Many of them are very common and some will surprise you. In any case do the earth a favor and plant as many of each as you can to fit your design and we’ll all be better for it.

Starting with tall trees (60-90’ tall with 25-35’ spread), any of the maples will provide you with beautiful color. Red maples turn copper color, Silver maples turn yellow-orange, Norway maples hold their leaves forever and then turn brilliant yellow to orange-yellow and Sugar maples (woodworkers call them Rock Maples) can be red, orange or yellow depending on your soil. Another great tree is the Red Oak which turns a beautiful red color and provides acorns for the deer, birds and squirrels. And last, you should definitely consider the Black Tupelo for shade and beautiful red fall color, combining both in a majestic package that is very hardy.

Shorter trees (25-30’ tall with a 15’-25’spread), often used as specimens, have some of the most beautiful fall colors. My favorites are the crabapple, who’s tiny leaves turn a coppery-yellow color, and the Japanese Maple, who’s palmate leaves turn a golden-red to a golden-orange color. Both have a very light, feathery texture.

Tall shrubs (10-15’ tall with 5-15’ spread) are the easiest to choose for their color, as they’ve been selected over many years for this quality.

The Burning Bush is beautiful but it's considered an invasive species so don't plant any.

Staghorn Sumac and Smooth Sumac are both tall shrubs with surprisingly nice fall colors, ranging from purple to red to copper-gold. These are best used as naturalizing elements along the edge of your landscape, and their compound leaves provide a jagged texture somewhat like an impressionist painting.

Another tall shrub that I especially like is the Blackhaw Viburnum (up to 15’ tall with a 10’ spread). This great shrub is usually loaded with reddish-to-dark purple berries in the fall and the berries are a great contrast to the purple or light bronze color of the large leaves. Once the leaves fall the many-stemmed, fan-shaped nature of this shrub stands-out against the strong verticals of the winter landscape.

For shorter shrubs you can’t go wrong with Oakleaf Hydrangea (3’-6’ tall with a 3’-6’ spread). Most of us think of Hydrangea flowers and this one is no exception, with white flowers in summer that fade to a pinky-tan color in the fall. The Oakleaf has a special use in the landscape, however, as it is one of the only shrubs that turns a true purple color in the fall. Almost any hydrangea will turn coppery-purple color in the fall, but it’s the Oakleaf that truly stands out as the best purple around.

For fall color in the base-plane area between short shrubs and the grass there really aren’t many choices. You would probably best enjoy some native grasses (particularly the Red Switchgrass) which turns rusty-copper color in the fall and lasts all winter, providing a beautiful color contrast to the white snow that is sure to come.

Fall is the only time of year when the landscape design hierarchy of form, color, line, texture and scale is turned upside down and dominated by color. When planning your fall colors remember that you aren’t working in a vacuum, and that depending on your local native mixture of trees and bushes there is already a color scheme in your landscape that you can choose to accentuate, defy, or harmonize with. Whatever your choice, plant something - you’ll improve the beauty for all of us.


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