Your late summer flowering kings and queens may still be going strong with Dahlias, Asters, Cosmos, Chrysanthemum, Japanese Anemones and many more often flowering right up to the frosts.
But as the nights draw in it’s the deciduous trees and shrubs that steal their crowns, with leaves the colour of pumpkin soup in a copper pot and golden butter spread on your crusty bread and berries as bright and shiny as Rudolph’s nose.
Leaf colours of Acers large or small, Liquid Amber, Cercis, Enkianthus and Cotinus are all stunning. The British native Euonymus europeus (Spindle) has its wonderful red leaves and bright pink seed pods which burst open to reveal bright orange seeds.
Crab apples are trees for all seasons with spring flowers, summer shade, autumn leaf colour and rosy red fruits feasted on by our feathered friends through the winter.
Berries abound on cotoneasters, hollies and pyracantha in yellow, orange or red, take your pick.
Callicarpa even has them in bright purple. There is something to suit every size garden and to match any woolly scarf this autumn.
