Check out some stunning Fall Foliage Plants that will add a spectacular color show in your garden for autumn! Grow these show stoppers today!
Plants and small trees take a wonderful shade of colors in fall, transforming the look of a garden completely. Grow these Fall Foliage Plants this year to make your home full of colors in the next fall!
Beautiful Fall Foliage Plants
1. Autumn Fern
Botanical Name: Dryopteris erythrosora
USDA Zones: 5-8
Commonly known as the Japanese shield fern, it grows 2-4 feet tall and wide. New fronds open in stunning colors of orange-red to copper pink before turning glossy deep green in summer.
Have a look at the best types of ferns here
2. Dwarf Fothergilla
Botanical Name: Fothergilla gardenii
USDA Zones: 5-8
This shrub shows off a pattern of fall hues in purple, red, and orange. It thrives in partial shade to the full sun, which is the reason for the pretty fall color.
3. Barrenwort
Botanical Name: Epimedium × versicolor ‘Sulphureum’
USDA Zones: 5-8
Barrenwort is also known as bishop’s hat. It produces heart-shaped, oval leaflets in red hues during spring and bronze in fall and winter.
4. Staghorn Sumac
Botanical Name: Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger’
USDA Zones: 4-8
Its fall foliage flashes in gorgeous orange and red hues with fuzzy red clusters. ‘Bailtiger’ is a gold-leaf variety and grows up to 5-8 feet tall and wide.
5. Bloody Geranium
Botanical Name: Geranium sanguineum
USDA Zones: 3-8
This perennial flowers occasionally from late spring to late summer. The blossoms rise on an ornamental mound of palmately lobed foliage that becomes blood-red in fall.
6. Oakleaf Hydrangea
Botanical Name: Hydrangea quercifolia
USDA Zones: 5-9
This upright and deciduous shrub grows up to 6-8 feet tall and wide. The oak-like dark green foliage turns red or purple in late fall.
7. Boston Ivy
Botanical Name: Parthenocissus tricuspidata
USDA Zones: 4-8
Boston Ivy is a deciduous, fast-growing vine with leaves that turn scarlet red to purple in fall under sunny locations. It is one of the Best Fall Foliage Plants you can grow!
8. Bluestar
Botanical Name: Amsonia hubrichtii
USDA Zones: 4-9
Also known as Arkansas blue star, this tough perennial opens in starry blue blossoms in late spring to early summer. When fall arrives, its green leaves turn gold.
9. Virginia Sweetspire
Botanical Name: Itea virginica
USDA Zones: 5-9
Also known as Virginia willow, this mound-shaped shrub produces oval and deep green foliage in hues of orange, red, and gold in fall.
10. Shenandoah Switch Grass
Botanical Name: Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’
USDA Zones: 4-9
The upright foliage of this deciduous perennial takes a stunning hue of red in fall. It looks best in the garden with other fall plants!
11. Chinese Fountain Grass
Botanical Name: Pennisetum alopecuroides
USDA Zones: 5-9
The plant showcases a soft textured appearance. Its bottlebrush-like, soft seed heads bring a golden yellow texture to fall gardens.
12. Blue Fescue
Botanical Name: Festuca glauca
USDA Zones: 4-8
Add a hint of steel blue to planting beds all year long with this plant! During fall, the blue foliage gives a textural contrast.
13. Apache Rose Switch Grass
Botanical Name: Panicum virgatum ‘Apache Rose’
USDA Zones: 4-9
This prairie grass offers small, rose-tinted flower spikes that bring a distinct shade to a garden. Pair it with other fall foliage plants for the best display!
14. Russian Sage
Botanical Name: Perovskia atriplicifolia
USDA Zones: 4-9
Russian sage displays beautiful gray-green leaves and purple blooms in late summer and fall and white-silver fragrant stems during winter.
15. Feather Reed Grass
Botanical Name: Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’
USDA Zones: 5-9
This majestic ornamental grass adds a rich tone of colors to a fall garden! You can grow it in containers. For best color, expose it to bright light.
16. Hosta
Botanical Name: Hosta
USDA Zones: 3-9
Fall or no fall, if you have a Hosta in your garden, rest assured you will enjoy a burst of colors all year round. They come in a lot of colorful varieties that you can choose from!
17. Red Wiggle Sedum
Botanical Name: Sedum ochroleucum ‘Red Wiggle’
USDA Zones: 4-8
This plant has spruce-like foliage that stays red-green in summer. However, it turns into a shade of bright red in fall, which looks fantastic in gardens.
18. Helveticum
Botanical Name: Sempervivum helveticum
USDA Zones: 5-9
The ground-hugging rosettes of this plant remain bright green most of the time of the year, but in fall, it takes an eye-catching shade of dark burgundy.
19. Blue Paradise
Botanical Name: Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Blue Paradise’
USDA Zones: 5-9
The fine and slender blades of this grass remain blue-green in summer. Come fall, and they transform into a stunning shade of burgundy-red!
20. Arnold Promise Witch Hazel
Botanical Name: Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’
USDA Zones: 5-8
Arnold Promise Witch Hazel is a vase-shaped cultivar that grows upright with a spreading habit and ascending branches. Usually, it is most popular for its sweetly fragrant flowers.
21. Gold Mound Spirea
Botanical Name: Spiraea japonica
USDA Zones: 4-8
Gold Mound Spirea is most valued for its leaves in spring that turn into shades of vibrant yellow in fall. This deciduous shrub also showcases clusters of flowers, too!
22. Viburnum
Botanical Name: Viburnum
USDA Zones: 4-8
Viburnum belongs to a group of huge-flowering shrubs with over 150 varieties. The plant grows pink or white flowers in early spring.
23. Virginia Creeper
Botanical Name: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
USDA Zones: 4-9
Virginia Creeper looks stunning in any landscape and can thrive well in almost any light and soil conditions. It is one of the Fall Foliage Plants you can grow!
24. Heuchera
Botanical Name: Heuchera
USDA Zones: 4-9
The most beautiful attraction of Heuchera is its foliage, and most types come in burgundy or deep purple shades. You can even find some varieties in lime green to red color, too.
25. Burning Bush
Botanical Name: Euonymus alatus
USDA Zones: 4-8
If you are looking for a splash of crimson color during fall, then grow this plant! It is most famous for its bold-colored foliage.
26. Aronia
Botanical Name: Aronia
USDA Zones: 3-9
Aronia berry plant bears flowers in white color in mid-spring, but the beautiful berries only appear in the fall.
27. Ornamental Peppers
Botanical Name: Capsicum annuum
USDA Zones: 9-11
Ornamental Pepper is an easy-to-care-for plant and can make any space look stunning with its shiny, green foliage and very colorful peppers!
28. Dusty Miller
Botanical Name: Jacobaea maritima
USDA Zones: 8-10
The plant is mostly grown for its foliage in shades of silver-gray. Its lacy leaves look attractive and contrast well with other flowers in the garden.
29. Red Twig Dogwood
Botanical Name: Cornus sericea
USDA Zones: 3-8
Red Twig Dogwood is another great fall foliage plant to grow. It showcases green-colored stems in summer and turns bright red in fall.
31. October Glory Red Maple
Botanical Name: Acer rubrum ‘October Glory’
USDA Zones: 4-9
This rapid-growing red maple cultivar is most loved for its beautiful shiny green leaves that turn into vibrant red in fall.
32. Autumn Gold
Botanical Name: Ginkgo biloba ‘Autumn Gold’
USDA Zones: 4-9
This plant comes alive during the fall months when the leaves become a shade of bright yellow!
33. Spanish Bluebell
Botanical Name: Hyacinthoides hispanica
USDA Zones: 3-8
Spanish Bluebell has dangling spikes that lend charm to garden borders or beds. It flowers in shades of blue and lavender.
34. Persimmon Tree
Botanical Name: Diospyros kaki
USDA Zones: 4-9
The leaves of this deciduous tree turn pink, yellow, purple, or red in the fall, which makes it look mesmerizing.
35. Croton
Botanical Name: Croton
USDA Zones: 8-11
This plant stays colorful no matter what the season is! If you want a sheer contrast of hues in your garden, then this is the one to grow!
