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Trees and shrubs for autumn colour
Apr 04, 2020
Gardens are an important feature of any home, but many homeowners fall into the trap of concentrating on spring and summer flowering plants and shrubs to bring them joy. A well-planned garden should give you year-round satisfaction, and autumn is a season to enjoy a blaze of spectacular colours.
Now is the time that you need to start planning your landscape design
to introduce trees and shrubs for autumn colour. The Christchurch and Canterbury climate does not suit all types of trees and shrubs, so it’s important that you take advice before getting busy buying and planting.
Here’s a selection of some easy to grow trees and shrubs that can brighten your autumn garden. These are just a few of the hundreds available, and we can talk about your many options during an EPIC
landscape consultation.
Fiery reds
Acers are a firm favourite to ignite autumn colours, no matter how modest or large the size of the garden. The Acer rubrum ‘Autumn Glory’ is a compact tree that grows upright making it an ideal choice in suburban landscape designs; its leaves go through the spectrum – orange, red to crimson.
Cornus alba sibirica, or red barked dogwood, as it is known by its common name, is a deciduous fast-growing shrub that produces attractive small, creamy flowers. It has dark green oval leaves, but it is in autumn that its real beauty is revealed. When the leaves are dropped, its bright red stems are exposed and can add a real contrast to the other plants you have in your landscape design.
Glorious golds and yellows
Gingko biloba ‘Autumn Gold’ is a deciduous tree that adds visual interest to your garden. With a symmetrical crown, its canopy of delicate fan-shaped leaves turns the most brilliant of yellows in autumn. Plus, this tree tolerates extremes of temperature and once established is drought tolerant
too – a great hardy specimen.
There’s very little not to love about the Citrus Lemon ‘Meyer’ which it can be popular in a landscape design. Admittedly, the leaves aren’t yellow, but this compact evergreen shrub produces masses of lemon fruit from its fragrant flowers in time for autumn harvest.
Deep purples and pastels
Cercis canadensis, or Forest Pansy, is considered a large deciduous shrub, or a small ornamental tree – depending on who you talk to – but it’s mainly grown for its foliage. In spring, small pink flowers emerge from the bare branches, and when in leaf (spring and summer) it has heart-shaped deep red-purple leaves. In autumn these leaves turn into a range of vibrant, pastel hues of peach, apricot and orange which makes the Forest Pansy a celebrated addition to a garden at any time of the year.
Hebe 'Autumn Glory' is a native small, rounded, evergreen shrub, and as the name suggests, it holds onto its spikes of purple flowers well into autumn. There are so many cultivated varieties of Hebe that you are spoiled for choice with colour.
As a rule of thumb, the trees and shrubs that have such dramatic changes of colour in autumn still need to be able to get a good dose of sunlight. When you choose where to plant them, the condition of the soil is also critical to their ability to thrive.
EPIC Landscape Design are Christchurch NZ horticulture specialists. We are passionate about helping our clients achieve their landscape design vision and create unique outdoor living areas that will suit our clients lifestyle, wants and needs for many years to come.
Whether you need horticulture advice, a planting plan, or a complete overhaul of your outdoor space, contact us now
or call directly with Luke on 027 688 4155
to discuss your project.
Epic News
Do you struggle to imagine what your new landscape will look like?
What are the risks of not having a plan? What are the benefits? Why choose EPIC Landscape Design?
Epic Landscape Design's Luke Robertson was asked his advice on how to landscape a lifestyle block by www.stuff.co.nz. Check out the article here If you need assistance with your lifestyle block on indeed any landscape design project in Christchurch or Canterbury please don't hesitate to contact Luke !
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