You can have beautiful color in your yard year round, with some planning and the right plants. Of course, mums, ornamental cabbage and kale, swiss chard, mustard greens, bok choi and cardoon are great for smaller scale projects, but certain trees and shrubs will add interest and color to your yard during the fall and winter months. Below are a few we recommend:

Fall Color
Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)
Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea)
Stewartia (Stewartia pseudocamellia)
Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)
Nandina (Nandina domestica)
Chokecherry (Aronia arbutifolia)
Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus)
Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)
Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica)
Blueberry (Vaccinum ashei)
Forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia)
Witchhazel (Hammamelis x intermedia)

Other than providing excellent fall and winter interest, the berries attract and provide food for the birds. The birds that stay during the winter will help control troublesome insects in the spring.

Fall Berries
Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa)
Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.)
Crabapple (Malus floribunda)
Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma)
Nandina (Nandina domestica)
Firethorn (Pyracantha koidzumii)
Chokecherry (Aronia arbutifolia)
Holly (Ilex spp.)
Japanese Aucuba (Aucuba japonica)
Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium)
Rockspray Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster horizontalis)
Chindo Viburnum (Viburnum odoratissimum var. awabuki

The bark of some trees becomes more rugged, creates an artistic pattern, or exfoliates to a contrasting color with age. This is another way to add some fall interest.

Showy Bark
Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum)
River Birch (Betula nigra)
Dove Tree (Davidia involucrata)
Beech (Fagus spp.)
Franklinia (Franklinia alatamaha)
Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)
Stewartia (Stewartia pseudocamellia)
Lacebark Elm (Ulmus parviflora)
Flowering Cherry (Prunus spp.)