Shrubs That Change Colors
Color-changing shrubs create a completely different garden look with each season. Consider planting your garden in a pattern so when fall arrives, a design appears as the leaves change their colors. Even if you don't want to get that decorative, color-changing shrubs are an elegant addition to your garden.
Beauty Bush Dream Catcher
The Beauty Bush Dream Catcher is also known as the 'Kolkwitzia amabilis Maradco.' It's a flowering shrub with golden orange blossoms that bloom early, then stay hidden for the rest of the growing season. The leaves start out golden yellow, but turn reddish-orange in the fall. The shrub grows 6-9 feet tall and--good news for gardeners--deer avoid them.
- Color-changing shrubs create a completely different garden look with each season.
- Consider planting your garden in a pattern so when fall arrives, a design appears as the leaves change their colors.
Plant this shrub in full or partial sunlight, though filtered shade is the best environment if you want the plant to thrive. The Beauty Bush Dream Catcher is adaptable to many soils and moisture levels. This is a great plant for you if you tend to over- or under-water your plants. The shrub is best suited for USDA growing zones 4-9. The Dream Catcher can also be grown in containers.
Barberry Concorde
The Barberry Concorde shrub is a gorgeous fall color shrub. It's a more compact shrub and is great for front-yard landscaping. The leaves of this plant start out a rich red-purple and don't fade out in the heat. The color is deeper than a lot of other purple-leaved shrubs. Fall brings small red fruits as well as foliage color change in red, yellow and orange. This shrub is also pest-tolerant.
- Plant this shrub in full or partial sunlight, though filtered shade is the best environment if you want the plant to thrive.
- This is a great plant for you if you tend to over- or under-water your plants.
Plant in full sun, as shade will cause the leaves to lose their purple hue and turn green. The plant will grow in dry soil but it will thrive in moist, well-drained soil. This is a slow-grower, so you won't have to constantly trim it back. The Barberry shrub is most suited to zones 4-8.
Chokeberry – Autumn Magic Black
The chokeberry is referred to in horticulture as Aronia melanocarpa, which means "autumn magic." The shrub grows 3-5 feet tall and can be used many different ways in your landscaping, including as a hedge or border shrub when pruned. This shrub grows very fast and can quickly become out of control if you don't keep the pruning shears handy.
- Plant in full sun, as shade will cause the leaves to lose their purple hue and turn green.
- The shrub grows 3-5 feet tall and can be used many different ways in your landscaping, including as a hedge or border shrub when pruned.
In the late spring, the chokeberry has fragrant white flowers that give way to large edible blackberries that are sometimes used to make juice. The foliage starts out dark green but changes to red and purple in the fall. Like many fast-growing shrubs, this one will adapt to nearly any soil, even poor soil. The chokeberry also adapts to a wide range of soil moisture contents. Plant in full sun. This shrub is best for USDA zones 3-7.
Related Articles
References
Writer Bio
April Wilson is a former wedding consultant and candlemaking business owner. She currently runs an independent micropress and is an outspoken member of the indie author movement working under her fiction-writing pen name. She's been writing professionally for five years. Her articles appear on eHow, Trails Travel, Answerbag, and Gardenguides.com.
