FALL TREES, SHRUBS & PERENNIALS FOR COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPES!
It is Pumpkin Spiced Latte (PSL) Season. Enjoy these brilliant colored trees, shrubs and perennials while you sip your PSL.
LARGE TREES
Best early red color—Autumn Blaze or Freeman’s Maple
This sturdy hybrid is very common in this region, often serving as a parkway or street tree. It has a brilliant, red-orange color in the fall. Freeman’s maple is a hybrid of red maple and silver maple; the cross yields both the strong branch attachment of the red maple and the fast growth rate of the silver maple.
Gold fall color—Ginkgo Biloba
Extremely urban/commercial site tolerant. Handles winter salt, snow load and urban clay conditions.
Ginkgo is a hardy, pest-resistant, and attractive large tree. It has unusual fan-shaped leaves that turn vivid yellow in fall. Only male trees should be purchased, as the females produce seeds with a soft, fruit like covering that can be messy and have a potent odor.
Orange—Sugar Maple
Sugar maple is a Midwest native loved for its exceptional fall color ranging from brilliant yellow to burnt-orange. In summer, its lustrous foliage provides excellent shade, making it a great choice for parks, golf courses, and home landscapes where its roots can spread.
ORIENTAL TREES
Orange—Serviceberry
Apple serviceberry is a wonderful four-season tree with white flowers in the spring, blue-green leaves that turn red in the fall, blue-black edible berries, and smooth silver-gray bark. It is an excellent choice for a woodland garden, naturalized setting, or as a specimen plant in a garden.
Red–Thornless Hawthorn
This variety of cockspur hawthorn has thornless stems. It displays beautiful white flowers in spring and persistent fruit in fall and winter.
Burgundy—Blackhaw Viburnum
Black-haw viburnum is a large, native shrub or a small tree. In spring, new leaves emerge copper-colored followed by white, flat-topped flowers. In fall, black fruits contrast with the pinkish-red foliage. A great plant for naturalized areas.
This species is native to the Chicago region.
SHRUBS
Burgundy–Oakleaf Hydrangea
Oak-leaved hydrangea is an all-season shrub. The large, dark green leaves resemble oak leaves. In fall they change to deep burgundy or red. In summer the large cone-shaped flower clusters open white then turn a purplish-pink and change to brown persisting into winter. The older bark is cinnamon-brown in color and peels to create a texture that gives this shrub winter interest. It forms colonies from a shallow root system.
Red/Orange–Chokeberry
Red chokeberry is a tall, multi-stemmed native shrub with abundant white flowers, red glossy berries, and outstanding red fall color. Red chokeberry is a tough, dependable plant with three-season interest, useful for shady, wet sites. It works well in a naturalized landscape or garden.
Copper–Goldflame Spirea
Noted for its wonderful foliage, Spirarea japonica ‘Goldflame’ is a compact deciduous shrub with bronze-red ovate leaves in spring, changing to yellow-green as the summer progresses. The Luminous foliage turns brilliant shades of orange, red and yellow in fall. Perfect for contrasting and brightening the landscape. Spirea is a wonderful choice for borders and containers and great as a low hedge too!
Orange–Dwarf Fothergilla
Dwarf fothergilla is a small, multi-season shrub with white, bottlebrush-like flowers in spring, blue-green leaves in summer, and turning a kaleidoscope of color in autumn.
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