Plant placement key to colourful fall yardscaping

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/10/2012 (4952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nothing compares with the joie de vivre of early fall’s colours. But come late fall, the joie has disappeared and there aren’t signs of much vivre either.

It’s a drab time of year, made worse by dull overcast skies.

While you will hopefully have preserved some perennial seedheads and ornamental grasses for winter interest, they have a hard time shining against a greyish brown lawn.

The fallscape is a composition unto itself. It needs both colour and backdrop to really shine. The best approach is to plan for one area of your yard to have some fall pizzaz.

Key to the fallscape is plant placement. These are hardworking plants that are part of the backbone of your yard so they may be throughout your yard. Place a few close together specifically for late fall effect.

If ever there was a time to turn to the evergreens, the spruce and junipers, and I’m talking all kinds — trees, columnar and globular shrubs, as well as the horizontal creepers — it’s late fall.

Still fresh from the summer, their greens and blues are just about the only colour in town. A collection of differing forms and heights is lovely unto itself. But in the fallscape, they are the background colour.

Pair them up with the other late fall colour in town, the deep reds. There’s not much of it by late fall, so put them close together. Barberries and ninebarks tend to colour up and retain their leaves quite late. Set against a swath of evergreen, they are spectacular.

Concorde, Rose Glow, and Ruby Carousel barberry all have red coloured leaves that just keep getting better into the fall. Some barberries are borderline hardy. Give them the full sun and well-drained soil they prefer. Nestling them in with some evergreens will give you great fall look, and give them the protection they need to get through the winter.

The purple leaved ninebarks such as Center Glow, Coppertina, Diabolo, and Summer Wine are all fabulous in the late fall.

Add a couple of perennials to the composition to give it more depth. Autumn joy sedum’s flowers have great long lasting reds, while the bergenia foliage itself  turns red.

And don’t overlook the ornamental cabbage. An annual, not a vegetable in spite of the name, and really bit of an oddity most of the time, it is a natural host of the fallscape party. Put in a patch for good effect!

Carla Keast has a master’s degree in landscape architecture and is a Winnipeg-based freelance landscape designer. She can be reached at contact@carlakeast.com.