The heat of summer is sliding away and soon fall colors will decorate the valleys and mountain sides of your hometown. If you want additional fall foliage in your life, then you can plant shrubs that fit your garden and fill your afternoons with the excitement of changing leaves. 

But which shrubs will give you the most dazzling display of fall color? We’ve picked out our top five favorites!

Which Shrubs Give You the Brightest Fall Color?

Sumacs 

Bright and bold and difficult to kill, sumacs can be the perfect addition to your garden. These are one of the first plants to change in fall and they get wrapped in a beautiful maroon shield of color. The seeds of this plant are often spread by birds, so you typically find them scattered in forests and along tree lines. 

Sumacs stabilize slopes and songbirds love to feast on the berries. They’re a great addition to any wildlife garden, while also attracting bees and butterflies and beetles while they’re in bloom. These aren’t picky plants--they can go without soil and fertilizer and often prefer sandier areas to survive.

Viburnums 

Viburnums boast attractive and fragrant flowers, while also welcoming birds. They often have fragrant fruit in fall, along with beautiful leaves too. While your garden is bursting with final life at the end of fall, decorate your garden with flowering viburnums. 

Winter will come early with the Summer Snowflake and Nannyberry Viburnums, with a crest of white flowers and songbirds decorating your garden. 

Viburnums have a fun name and grow without much fussing--good soil and full sunlight and they will welcome you home with fruit and flowers. Don’t forget to include these in your garden. 

Chokeberry 

This shrub is berry on the nose! Commonly grown in Minnesota, chokeberries are shrubs with bursting berries. It’s no secret that bugs and butterflies alike love to feast on these sweet and lovely plants. The Autumn Magic Chokeberry Shrub is as colorful and decorative as can be. In fall, the leaves get fired up with red and purple hues.

The chokeberry produces berries that are edible for humans and good-for-you too. Chokeberries contain antioxidants and some say that the fruit will help with high blood pressure, heart disease, and cholesterol. 

The Chokeberry shrub is a hardy plant that can be grown in any soil--it does need nutrients to survive though, so be sure to provide it with compost or fertilizer to keep it producing plentiful berries and flowers.

Burning Bush 

Burning with color, Burning Bush is as biblical, as it is beautiful. Red leaves make it impossible to look away. The Burning Bush is native to Asia and fantastic for notice gardeners. It’s easy to plant and requires little upkeep, so that you can enjoy the view, without painstakingly trimming it.

In May, they produce tiny flowers and in June they produce berries. They become berry enticing to birds that will frequent your garden. So if you’re looking to add an easy-maintenance and compact shrub to your garden, look no further than the Pipsqueak® Burning Bush Shrub with a blaze of crimson leaves. 

Serviceberry

Looking like a flurry of fresh fallen snow, the serviceberry shrub is a sight to behold. It adds a gentle white to your garden, in contrast to the bright reds of your other shrubs. 

While a little more finicky to maintain, they’re worth it. Serviceberry Shrubs require yearly pruning and at least four hours of direct sunlight a day. If you feed them fertilizer every six weeks, they’ll be falling to provide you with beautiful changing leaves, white flowers, and fruit for your neighborhood birds.

Be Astonished By Your Shrub-berry Garden

There’s no better time of year to find solace outdoors with the aroma and beauty of nature. We’re a few weeks away, so don’t fall behind on your shrub-shopping and gardening.

You deserve autumn colors that permeate your yard. Don’t wait to plant until spring. Enjoy these shrubs while the weather cools and drink delicious cider alongside a bowl of your own shrub berries, with the flair of fall around you.

Happy planting!