When plants are blessed with colourful foliage in autumn the term “wallflower” doesn’t apply.  If your foliage is brilliant yellow, orange, red, purple or a combination of all, you get noticed.  You can’t try to hide yourself off in a corner, hoping that the season will pass quickly until your leaves drop and winter arrives.
Still, some plants do tend to garner most of the attention during autumn.  In our valley it’s the poplars on the hillsides and along the watercourses.  In our gardens the maples take centre stage, with several others vying for second place.

Part of my mission as a garden writer is to bring to the attention of readers plants that I think deserve a place in the landscape, but need more recognition.  These plants just need someone to notice them over there in the corner at the party, and to introduce them to the rest of the crowd.  I’d like you to meet the following autumn “wallflowers.”

Cercidiphyllum japonicum, the Katsura, is certainly one of the most elegant shade trees.  It has much to offer in any season.  In spring the leaves emerge with a reddish-purple hue, then mature to a lovely blue-green.  It has arching branches, a vase shape and usually develops multiple trunks at a low height, forming a large rounded tree with roots that aren’t as aggressive as similar sized trees.  This makes it an ideal tree for underplanting with shade loving plants.  And it’s virtually pest and disease free.

In fall the foliage is transformed into a gorgeous butter-yellow, with orange and apricot tones.  When the leaves fall they release a fragrance that smells like burnt sugar!  It truly is a lovely tree at this time of the year.
But, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, there is no perfect shade tree.  Katsura is somewhat demanding when it comes to soils and moisture.  It does best in a fertile, organic soil full of humus, and it needs regular moisture, especially in the first two years of its growth. Without it the tree is subject to leaf scorch.  Give it what it needs, mulch around the base to keep the roots cool, and you’ll have a spectacular specimen to enjoy year-round.

My second wallflower is the Sweetgum, or Liquidambar styraciflua.  Although the fall colour can be quite variable from year to year it is a spectacular rich yellow-purple-red at its best, and it is one of the later trees to drop its leaves.  The leaves resemble those of a maple, but the colour is an attractive deep glossy green in summer.
Liquidambar also possesses lovely grey-brown, deeply furrowed bark which is captivating in the winter.  Again, it’s a tree that needs regular watering during its younger years to ensure good health, but the effort is certainly worthwhile.

Gardeners know of the Hamamelis, or Witch Hazel, because of its early flowering habit.  The unique spidery and fragrant blooms are often seen in late February in our region, signaling the imminent return of spring.  But many of the cultivars of this large multi-stemmed deciduous shrub feature beautiful autumn foliage of red or yellow.  ‘Arnold’s Promise’ turns orange-yellow, while ‘Diane’ is a lovely scarlet red.

If you have the space to allow these horizontally branching shrubs to reach their full size without pruning (about twelve feet high and wide) you’ll enjoy an aristocratic plant that delivers outstanding beauty both early and late in the gardening season.