12 trees and shrubs for great fall foliage color

As Digital Content Editor Christine Alexander explains, pollinators play a vital role in our ecosystem and we should all be doing our part to support their populations:

Now that October is here, you must be busy with theessential gardening jobs for this autumn month. For most people, this time of the year is especially pleasing because of the cooler nights, warm sunny days, and pretty autumn foliage.

While flowering trees are what you want, drought tolerant trees are what you need. Fortunately, there are a number of drought resistant flowering trees that will adorn your garden while requiring minimal water. These types of plants can form the bones of a water wise landscape.

The seed catalogue season is in full swing and I paused to consider their value to gardeners.

Ornamental Japanese Maples are widely available for planting in your garden. The autumn colouring makes these trees spectacular when planted en mass in a woodland or Japanese garden setting.

Flowering Cherry trees contribute most to the floral pageantry of spring blossom and they are easy to grow. Cherries are graceful and well shaped trees and many varieties have excellent Autumn colour. (Scarlet leaves of Prunus sargentii and pubesens, yellow of hybrids Pandora or Tai-Haku or coppery Ukon.)

The ancient Chinese have cultivated Tree Peonies for over 1500 years. Prized specimens are and were grown for medicinal purposes as they contain glucocides and alkolides. The  imperial palace gardens had many specimens that became quite valuable.

Arduaine Garden in Scotland is well-known in international Rhododendron circles for the number of wonderful species grown here, many of which are considered tender elsewhere and grow unusually under a canopy of mature Japanese larch. To some people, rhododendrons are those unpleasant purple-flowered objects which clog up our native woodlands. This is but one species, Rhododendron ponticum or a hybrid of it which spreads rapidly both by seed and sucker. Arduaine’s collection is extensive containing about 400 distinct species. The rhododendrons range from the large-leaved giants such as Rhododendron protistum, Rhododendron sinogrande and Rhododendron macabeanum to the small-leaved, high altitude plants which are often classed as rock plants, a sample of which would include Rhododendron fastigiatum, impeditum and orthocladum. In between these two extremes sit the majority of species of differing sizes with a variety of foliage shapes and an astonishing range of flower colour and form. One of the specialities is the only Rhododendron from Ceylon – Rhododendron arboreum subsp. zeylanicum.

There are two common species of larch Larix kaempferi (aka leptolepis  the Japanese Larch) and European Larch Larix decidua. As the name implies the Larch looses their tufted leaves in autumn. They grow in most conditions but do not like wet or chalky soil

Fritilliary in damp shade

I will use Shangri-la as an all encompassing name for spiritually based gardens and areas of harmonious natural beauty stealing a name from James Hilton in his novel Lost Horizon.

At the heart of the Judas tree is an ornamental flowering tree with rich, pink to red, pea shaped flowers in May followed by long pods.