Best Plants for Autumnal Colour Your Small Garden
It arrived. After months of relentless scorch, the Autumn is here. And with her, stunning, soothing shades of gold, red and orange in our gardens and parks. That autumnal colour is often overlooked when we plan our gardens for all-year-round interest. My garden design clients in West London often concentrate on blossom colour in their choices of planting, but they can really make impact in Spring and Summer, while the beauty of these autumnal shades escapes their mind.
If you want to make sure your suburban space comes to life at this time, here is a selection of plants suitable for small city gardens that will make your heart sing in Autumnal months.
Prunus incisa ‘Kojo-no-mai’
Compact tree growing just to 2.5m tall is ideal for small courtyard style gardens and can be grown in large pot, provided it is connected to drip irrigation. With zig-zag branches, lance-shaped leaves, stunning spring display of blossoms, and stunning crimson leaf colour in Autumn, Kojo-no-mai is a perfect choice for all-year round interest.
Acer palmatum 'Winter Flame'
This acer is perfect for small gardens, reaching just 3 x 2 metres in 20 years. In Spring, pink tinged young shoots appear and leaves mature to the freshest lime green colour in Summer, then the foliage turns gold in Autumn, just like a winter flame! Triggered by a cold spell, the stems and bark turn coral red throughout winter, making a stunning focal point.
Sorbus aucuparia 'Autumn Spire'
Compact version of mountain ash with upright branches forming a neat, columnar habit, with spread of just 1.5m and mature height of 8m, it is great for medium sized gardens where shade is needed in Summer without completely blocking light in Winter. In spring, clusters of white flowers decorate the tree, later followed by yellow berries, perfectly accentuated by the striking burgundy-turning red autumn foliage.
Euonymus alatus ‘Compactus’
Euonymus alatus 'Compactus' is a small, compact deciduous shrub only grows to a height and spread of 150cm. It is, however, second to none for autumn colour. It features ovate, elliptic green leaves on branches with distinctive corky ridges, which mature to a vibrant rosy-red in autumn. In spring, small green flowers appear, followed by red-purple fruits with orange seeds that attract birds and other wildlife to your garden. This shrub thrives in well-drained soils and prefers full sun or partial shade.
Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’
While grasses tend to be at their best in Autumn, Panicum vigatum is particularly striking thanks to it’s crimson blades and masses of hazy flowers in early autumn followed by gorgeous autumn colour. Later in autumn the foliage turns a dramatic shade of yellow. While it seldom survives the Winter, it is a stunning addition to tired borders after Summer scorch.
Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’
Better known as Smoke Bush, it is perfect for smaller gardens. You can choose to keep it as a shrub or train it as a small tree. It has magnificent, dark red-purple oval leaves in Spring and Summer, in July and August, it is festooned with fluffy plumes of purplish-pink flowers that look like a haze of smoke. Deep wine-purple or dark copper leaves intensify into a striking bright scarlet and red before dropping.
Viburnum opulus ‘Compactum
This is a fabulous variety of Viburnum with stunning lacecap clusters of white flowers followed by red berries in Autumn. It is great for smaller gardens thanks to fairly compact size. The leaves are deep green with an unusual palmate shape with deep lobes that are similar to maple and turn a beautiful shade of red in Autumn.
Plant these gorgeous specimens now so they have a chance to establish and mature for the breath-taking display next Autumn.
