EDDIE SEAGLE: Welcome to the autumn season

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”

— Lauren DeStefano, “Wither”

“Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.”

— Elizabeth Lawrence, “Inspirational Quotes”

Welcome the autumn season this week (It began Tuesday). Fall is a beautiful time of the year. As tree canopies forming the ceiling of the landscape provide seasonal colors, many shrubs also offer interesting color schemes while creating the walls of the landscape.

Every landscape garden needs shrubs for structure and good form for all seasons. Colorful fall foliage is often a factor many people link only to trees, but be reminded that shrubs can offer an interesting display of fall colors too. The following shrubs exhibit strong and attractive fall displays through colorful and bold foliage, interesting flowers, or attractive fruits and berries which may stay intact into the depths of winter.

Shrubs with great fall foliage include the barberries (Berberis) which are used extensively throughout the south (can become invasive in some areas) since they tolerate extreme soil and climate conditions and require minimum maintenance. Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) is the most popular landscape barberry (with many thorns) growing from 3 to 6 feet tall and 4 to 7 feet wide, depending on the cultivar. The leaves are bright green in summer and turn to orange, scarlet and reddish purple in the fall. It is deciduous and is one of the first shrubs to leaf out in spring. Its yellow flowers in spring are not very showy because they are small and borne under the foliage. The berries are bright red in the fall and stay intact into the winter.

Wintergreen barberry (Berberis julianae) is an evergreen shrub with thorny branches and grows to 10 feet in height and width making it an excellent barrier or screen plant. The leaves are a dark green and turn bronze or wine-red in the fall and winter. Its yellow flowers develop in the spring and are followed by bluish-black oval berries into the fall.

Mentor barberry (Berberis x mentorensis) grows 4 to 6 feet tall and 5 to 7 feet wide and loses its leaves in winter (may be semi-evergreen in warmer areas). Its dark green, leathery leaves turn orange to red in the fall. It has yellow flowers in spring but does not produce any berries.

All barberries make excellent hedge plants (uniform growth rate) and excellent barrier plants (thorny stems). They can be used in masses, shrub borders and as foundation plants and prefer sun or to partial shade environments. Barberries are tolerant of most soil types, dry conditions, and urban environments.

Clethra alnifolia (Clethra, summersweet or sweet pepperbush) exhibits a dense oval to upright growth habit reaching 4 to 8 feet in height 4 to 6 feet in width with pale yellow to orange to golden brown fall color. It prefers full sun to partial shade in moist to wet acidic, organically-enriched soils. It is late to leaf out in spring and develops intense, spicy and fragrant flowers in the summer which attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds (fruit attracts birds).

Enkianthus (Enkianthus species) is a small to medium shrub (deciduous and Asian) that grows erect and narrow and contrasts well with the more rounded habit of azaleas. Clusters of bellflowers (sometimes streaked with red) appear in mid-spring and the fall color is a brilliant red. It prefers rich, moist, well-drained soils in full sun or partial shade. Enkianthus can provide quality landscape value from spring through fall with its attractive flowering and brilliant fall leaves.

Fothergillas (Fothergilla species) are medium-sized deciduous shrubs which are valued for their spring blooms (white to creamy yellow, honey-scented) and blue-green summer foliage turning to brilliant red, orange, or yellow in the fall. They are tolerant of most pests, easy to grow and maintain, and can grow in a variety of soil conditions and moisture levels (preferring well-drained soils).

Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is a leafy, flowering shrub with many qualities throughout the year. Its tender lettuce-green, oak-shaped leaves appear in the early spring followed by creamy flower clusters later in the spring (turning from light pink to rose to tan as the season passes and remaining into the winter). The leaves turn to deep purple and red in the fall and remain through late fall. Its branches with peach-colored exfoliating bark provide effective winter interest. It is low maintenance, and tolerant of drought and most insects and diseases. Pruning should be exercised immediately after flowering since the buds are set in the early fall. Reaching 6 to 8 feet in height and width, it prefers part shade to full shade and is used as a shrub border, specimen plant or massed together as a focal point in design.

Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) is a drought-tolerant evergreen to semi-evergreen shrub which will grow 3 to 6 feet in height and width. It prefers sun to partial shade in moist to wet soils. The dark green leaves turn to mahogany, yellow, orange, or reddish in the fall. Its flowers attract butterflies and its seeds are in most bird’s diets. Avoid high fertilization since it spreads by runners and can become very invasive. Desired cultivars include Henry’s Garnet, Little Henry, Sarah Eve, and Saturnalia.

Winged euonymus or burning bush (Euonymus alatus) is a great deciduous shrub (10 feet height and spread) for fall coloration (leaves turning from green to florescent or cherry red to pink) with a broad-mounded growth habit and fascinating corky wings on the branches. Its flowers are not ornamentally-significant, but the warty brown bark and harvest gold branches are extremely impressive throughout the winter season. It is low maintenance and can be pruned throughout the year as an accent plant, general landscape plant, hedge, screen, or mass planting. It performs quite well in full sun and full shade, is tolerant of both dry and moist locations, and is tolerant of urban environments. Winged euonymus can become invasive in some environments.

Shrubs displaying colorful fruits include David viburnum (Viburnum davidii) with olive shaped bright metallic blue drupes, firethorn (Pyracantha cultivars) with orange red berries, heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica) with bright red berries, and Linden viburnum (Viburnum dilatatum) bright red flattened spheres. Also, red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia ‘Brilliant’) with astringent red fruits which birds will not eat, beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) with violet or magenta drupes which serves as food source for small animals and birds, winterberry (Ilex verticillata) bright red fruit, and Indian hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis indica) with bluish-black berries.

As you continue to plan your landscaping this month, think in terms of seasonal color, as well as sustainability and maintenance. And, as always, remember to feed and water the birds!

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” James 3:13.

Eddie Seagle is a sustainability Associate, Golf Environment Organization (Scotland); agronomist and horticulturalist, CSI: Seagle (Consulting Services International); professor emeritus and honorary alumnus, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and associate editor of The Golf Course, International Journal of Golf Science. Email [email protected].