Great plants for autumn colour

Spindle – Euonymus europaeus

A deciduous shrub or small tree with lovely pink and red leaves in autumn.  The white flowers turn to bright pink and orange seeds.

Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’

A deciduous shrub with dark green leaves that get a purplish tint in autumn alongside extraordinary shiny purple berries in clusters on the branches. 

Berberis thunbergia f. atropurpurea ‘Golden Ring’

This is a very spiny deciduous shrub with purple leaves edged in gold which turn bright crimson in autumn, with little deep red berries

Snowball tree – Guelder rose – Viburnum opulus

A bushy deciduous shrub with bright white lacecap flowers in late spring followed by shining bright red berries in autumn.

Snowberry – Symphoricarpos albus var. laevigatus

This is a vigorous suckering deciduous shrub whose flowers in early summer are small and bell-shaped.  These are followed by glowing clusters of snow-white berries in autumn.

Viburnum plicatum f. tormentosum  ‘Mariesii’

This big deciduous shrub has wide branches in tiers, which hold the lacey white flowers in late spring.  Its toothed and veined leaves turn a lovely orangey-red colour in autumn.

Parrotia persica

This is a wide-spreading deciduous tree (up to about 8m eventually) with pretty flaking bark and a rainbow of coloured foliage in yellow, red and purple in autumn.

Crab Apple – Malus ‘Red Sentinel’

A tree which can reach 7m in height eventually, whose pretty white single flowers in spring are followed by clusters of luscious cherry-like little red fruits in autumn and winter.  I grow this on espaliers and I LOVE it!

Liquidambar styraciflua (sweet gum)

This is a tall (up to 20m) deciduous tree with foliage like maple leaves which turn glorious shades of gold, ruby and sumptuous purple in the autumn.

Abelia  x grandiflora

Here we have a semi-evergreen shrub which has dainty pale-pink tubular flowers (with a faintish scent) from deeper-pink calyces all over it. These last for ages, well into the autumn, and are beloved by pollinators.

Miscanthus ssp  

These lovely grasses have fountains of foliage with plumes of flowers in summer on stiff stems which turn a warm light brown in September and wave beautifully in the autumn breezes.

Rose ‘Simple Peach’

A shrub rose with delightful clusters of lightly scented single flowers of a sort of peachy-pinky-orange set off by golden stamens.  A really good repeat performer well into the autumn months.

Gorse – Ulex europaeus

A viciously spiny branching evergreen shrub.  It has yellow flowers (coconut-scented) for much of the year, but especially in late autumn, winter and early spring.