Top Trees for Fall Foliage Colour

Common Name	Botanical Name	Description
Japanese Maple	Acer palmatum	Arguably the Queen of fall colour and with so many varieties to choose from there is a Japanese Maple for every unique garden style.
Serviceberry	Amelanchier sp.	Great small garden tree and foliage fades to shades of brilliant red/ orange/ and yellow in fall.
Red Maple	Acer rubrum	Very tolerant of a range of growing conditions and fall colour ranges from yellow orange to vibrant bright red. Excellent specimen tree.
Sweetgum	Liquidambar sp.	‘Slender Silhoutte’ is an excellent variety for incredibly narrow spaces growing to only 8’ wide. Fall colour for all sweetgums ranges from apricot-orange to reddish purple. Tolerant of wet soils.
Tupelo tree	Nyssa sylvatica	Exceptional bright red fall colour. Excellent specimen tree.
Persian ironwood	Parrotia sp.	Small garden tree with excellent drought tolerance and has a lovely range of fall colours from yellow to burgundy.

Honourable mentions:

Fall flowering trees:

Common Name	Botanical Name	Description
Chokeberry	Aronia sp.	Glossy green leaves fade to purple/red in fall. Great for natural areas and wet, boggy soils.
Smokebush	Cotinus sp.	Brilliant shades of yellow to vibrant red depending on the variety.
Redbud Hazel	Disanthus cercidifolius	Burgundy fall colour fading to crimson later in the season. Turns reliably deep red even in shaded conditions.
Enkianthus sp.	Enkianthus sp.	A woodland edge shrub or small tree with rich scarlet autumn colour. Best colour in full sun.
Burning bush	Euonymus alatus	An incredibly drought tolerant small to large shrub depending on variety with fiery red fall foliage. Able to grow in a range of conditions.
Witch-alder	Fothergilla sp.	This easy to grow mounding shrub produces yellow to apricot-orange fall colour. An excellent low-maintenance garden plant.
Sweetspire	Itea sp.	A great shrub for wet or boggy sites, with foliage that changes to a brilliant oranges and reds in the fall.
Sumac	Rhus sp.	Showy fall foliage and ornamental fruits are produced on this colony-forming shrub which is perfect in large borders or natural gardens.

Honourable mentions:

Common Name	Botanical Name	Description
Blue leadwood	Ceratostigma plumbaginoides	A drought-tolerant groundcover with blue flowers from summer to early fall held atop foliage that turns deep burgundy in the fall.
Fireglow spurge	Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’	Leaves of this Euphorbia turn shades of fiery red in fall.
Japanese Blood Grass	Imperata cylindrica ‘Rubra’	Red foliage all season long, turns even more intensely coloured later in the season.
Red-Leafed Mukdenia	Mukdenia rossii	A woodland perennial for foliage lovers, with deep read maple-like leaves in the fall.
Virginia creeper	Parthenocissus quinquefolia	Deciduous, perennial vine with superb fall colour.

Fall flowering perennials:

Best Plants for Fall Colour