The Best of Autumn Colour

One of the very best things about autumn is changing leaf colours. This is the time that deciduous plants suddenly put on a flush of colour – from the most fluorescent yellows, to dreamy oranges and rich claret tones - prior to their leaves turning brown and falling to the ground. Here’s a collection of plants chosen for their brilliant autumn displays:

Japanese maple (Acer palmatum)
Japanese maples are slow growing, intensely beautiful in autumn, and grow well in our region. There are hundreds of cultivars available, and there is a huge range of leaf shapes and colours, and varying growth forms.

Liquidambar (Liquidambar styraciflua)
These large, fast growing deciduous trees can reach 30 metres high. The autumn foliage is spectacular, with colours ranging from yellow, orange and scarlet to purple. There are new varieties available, including ‘Gumball’, ‘Gold Dust’, ‘Parasol’ and ‘Rotundiloba’.

Chinese pistachio (Pistacia chinensis)
This beautiful tree has brilliant yellow, orange and scarlet foliage in autumn. Pistachios only grow to about 8m tall, and so they make excellent garden or street trees.

Claret ash (Fraxinus ‘Raywood’)
The claret ash grows to about 20 metres (60′). It has glossy green foliage, which turns claret to deep purple in autumn. Claret ashes do well from Sydney to Perth and areas south, in the mountain zones, and Tasmania.

Golden ash (Fraxinus excelsior ‘Aurea’)
The foliage of the golden ash turns a clear yellow in autumn. The tree grows to around the 15 metre mark and has yellow branchlets with conspicuous black buds.

Sacred Japanese Bamboo (Nandina domestica)
Sacred Japanese bamboo is widely grown in gardens as an ornamental plant since it has a number of cultivars that display bright-red fall foliage in the cool months with attractive new foliage growth in spring. It can grow up to two metres tall.

Ornamental Grape (Vitis vinifera) The ornamental grape is the same species as the wine making grape but drops its fruit early so that it doesn’t make a mess. It’s a quick growing, spreading deciduous climber which will reach about 7-10m. New growth is green and slightly downy which matures to deep green in summer and gives beautiful autumn colour from orange, red through to purple. True grape-leaf shape to foliage.

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