Fall is one of the most exciting seasons in the backyard, when we can benefit from the many autumn foliage superstars to make a frame for late-blooming perennials. As opposed to thinking in terms of picking a favourite flower or two, make a vibrant vignette of trees and shrubs which will span the seasons and offer your garden a picture-perfect appearance in autumn.
When decorating a space, we generally start by choosing a wall color. With that in place, the fun starts as we locate the perfect floors or accent rug prior to finally think about the placement and style of furniture. The total color palette can be kept restrained, with attachments providing the finishing touch and extra color punch.
Creating a backyard vignette is a little like that. Start by choosing the key vertical elements — picking the trees which will look great over many seasons but that also have wonderful autumn tints. For the floor plane, search out grasses and shrubs which bring color, different leaf shapes and exciting textures to the spectacle. Finally add a swath of your favorite late-blooming perennials and garnish with an enjoyable container or 2 to get a bright splash of color.
Le jardinet
Creating a Foliage Picture Frame
In the scene below the eye is naturally drawn to the wide sweep of golden black-eyed Susan, yet this scene’s great looks rely a lot more on great foliage than on these ephemeral flowers.
A mixture of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs creates a frame for these sunny daisies. Although two trees punctuate the boundary, notice how several of these grasses and shrubs are planted in massive classes to help balance the bulk of flowers.
Strategic placement of simple containers helps to carry the color scheme through the cabin’s porch, making a wonderful escape for people who care to linger and enjoy the autumn screen.
The principal color scheme is green and gold, with a few bold accessories in crimson, showing restraint while being enjoyable.
This combination will start to develop in late July as the flowers begin to bloom. Those plants which are deciduous or die back in winter will do so over a period of many months. Even when the last leaf has fallen, the evergreen blossoms, conifer and striking bark of the pine tree will add interest.
Here is how to get the appearance.
Le jardinet
1. Begin with the trees. Insert structure and height with a couple of trees. Both the golden locust tree and the paperbark maple used here offer you excellent fall foliage, so this late-season border will continue to become a garden display for many months.
The golden locust tree shines a foliage spotlight on the entire scene. The chartreuse leaves of summer and spring turn into a softer yellow in autumn — a beautiful counterpoint to the adjacent maple and a wonderful comparison to the cedar-shingled cabin.
Botanical name: Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’
Common title: Golden locust tree
Where it will grow: Hardy to -30 degrees Fahrenheit (USDA zones 4 to 9; locate your zone)
Water requirement: Low once established
moderate requirement: Full sun for best color
Mature size: 30 to 50 feet tall and around 20 feet wide
Seasonal interest: Spring to collapse
When to plant: Plant it into well-drained soil in spring or autumn.
Caution: Golden locust trees can produce unwanted suckers in some parts of the U.S.
Le jardinet
The paperbark maple is a modest-size, slow-growing deciduous shrub, prized not just for its beautiful foliage but also for its appealing paring cinnamon-colored bark.
Le jardinet
In autumn the leaves of the paperbark maple vary from green to shades of peach, coral and caramel — a wonderful highlight of any autumnal screen.
Le jardinet
Botanical name: Acer griseum
Common title: Paperbark maple
Where it will grow: Hardy to -30 degrees Fahrenheit (zones 4 to 8)
Water requirement: Low once established
moderate requirement: Full sun or partial shade
Mature size: 18 feet tall and around 15 feet wide
Seasonal interest: Year-round
When to plant: Plant it into well-drained soil in spring or autumn.
Le jardinet
2. Insert a lesser tier of shrubs. With the elevation established, it’s time to fill in the floor plane with an range of shrubs and low-growing conifers. Soft gold shades blend with blue-green to make a vibrant fall tapestry.
Feelin’ Blue deodar cedar is a standout in the garden with its low, wide-spreading habit and stunning blue tones. This evergreen conifer is totally low maintenance and deer resistant, and has also been drought tolerant in my backyard.
Botanical name: Cedrus deodara ‘Feein’ Blue’
Common title: Feelin’ Blue deodar cedar
Where it will grow: Hardy to 0 degrees Fahrenheit (zones 7 to 9)
Water requirement: Low once established
moderate requirement: Total sun
Mature size: 2 to 4 feet tall and around 6 feet wide. It can also be trained as a low standard to form a brief weeping shrub.
Seasonal curiosity: Year-round
When to plant: Plant it into well-drained soil in autumn or spring.
Le jardinet
Spirea come in many sizes and its foliage comes in many colors — it is really just a matter of choosing your own favorite. This layout features Double Play Big Bang spirea.
In spring the leaves opens in shades of orange and aluminum, turning a gentle green in summer and yellow in autumn. Apartment clusters of pink flowers attract butterflies in summer. And although deer do nibble the new shoots, I do not mind — it boosts a flush of new rosy growth, as shown here.
Le jardinet
This is unquestionably a shrub to put in your backyard for 3 seasons of interest.
Botanical name: Double Play Big Bang Spiraea ‘Tracy’
Common title: Double Play Big Bang spirea
Where it will grow: Hardy to-30degrees Fahrenheit (zones 4 to 9)
Water requirement: Low once established
Light requirement: Total sun
Mature size: 3 feet tall and wide
Seasonal interest: Spring through autumn
When to plant: Plant it into well-drained soil in spring or autumn.
Le jardinet
3. Use wispy textures to add softness. Bring a feeling of movement to your garden by including delicate grasses or other fine-textured foliage which will move in the breeze. They will produce a soft background for the stiffer shrubs and flowers.
Who can withstand bronze fennel? Not me! Just look at that foliage — and it looks even more amazing when the early-morning dew collects on its feathery branches. Yes, it does self-seed, so perhaps this isn’t for everyone — and really, this autumn combo would still look lovely without it but you need to acknowledge the feathery foliage is spectacular and certainly adds to this scene.
Botanical name: Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’
Common title: Bronze fennel
Where it will grow: Hardy to -30 degrees Fahrenheit (zones 4 to 9). In zone 3 it could be appreciated as an annual without anxiety of these seeds’ overwintering
Water requirement: Low
moderate requirement: Total sun
Mature size: 6 feet tall and wide
Seasonal interest: Spring through autumn
When to plant: Plant it into well-drained soil in spring.
Caution: Bronze fennel can self-seed and become a nuisance.
Le jardinet
Grasses are the typical choice for adding excellent texture to the backyard, and the evergreen Mexican feather grass is one of my personal favorites, as it is not invasive where I live. You may prefer to substitute orange hair sedge (Carex testacea, zones 7 to 10), which is also evergreen and would stay within the color scheme.
Botanical name: Stipa tenuissima
Common title: Mexican feather grass
Where it will grow: Hardy to -10degrees Fahrenheit (zones 6 to 10); avoid planting where it’s invasive.
Water requirement: Low
moderate requirement: Total sun
Mature size: 18 to 36 inches tall and wide
Seasonal interest: Year-round
When to plant: Plant it into well-drained soil in spring.
Le jardinet
4. Add bold sweeps of your favourite autumn flowers. Black-eyed Susans are with no doubt a drop favorite. Place them within a picture frame of beautiful foliage, and they’ll really shine.
Botanical name: Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’
Common title: Black-eyed Susan
Where it will grow: Hardy to -10 degrees Fahrenheit (zones 6 to 10)
Water requirement: Reduced to moderate
Light requirement: Full sun or partial shade
Mature size: 3 feet tall and wide
Seasonal interest: Summer through fall
When to plant: Plant it into well-drained soil in spring or autumn.
Le jardinet
Zagreb tickseed is a remarkably low-maintenance perennial which produces dozens of 1-inch-diameter yellow daisies within a period of many months without deadheading. In the first picture you can see they’ve been used to flank the pathway resulting in the cabin.
Botanical name: Coreopsis verticillata ‘Zagreb’
Common title: Zagreb tickseed
Where it will grow: Hardy to -40 degrees Fahrenheit (zones 3 to 9)
Water requirement: Low
Light requirement: Total sun
Mature size: two feet tall and wide
Seasonal interest: Spring through autumn
When to plant: Plant it into well-drained soil in spring or autumn.
Le jardinet
5. Accessorize. Insert detail and an excess layer of color by incorporating a drop container garden in your vignette. This container sits on the cabin porch, and while the mix keeps within the general warm color scheme of this garden planting mix, it moves past the golden yellows to fiery orange and red.
Caution: Some of the plants listed in this ideabook may be invasive in your area. Check with your neighborhood cooperative extension or county extension office prior to planting any.