Fall Favorites at Pleasant Run
The wait is over! The irrefutable favorite season of Northeasterners and Midwesterners everywhere, the Autumn Equinox is ready for its annual debut this Sunday, September 22nd. In celebration of cool mornings, dark early evenings, bonfires, hayrides, and an abundance of pumpkins and apples in our futures, this week we’re introducing some of our favorite fall selections meant to bring color, texture, and variety to the landscape or container planting.
Carl – Aster ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ -***photos – We have nothing but amazing things to say about our asters, and ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ is no exception. A true champion of the fall season.
Acer saccharum ‘Green Mountain’ – Don’t let it’s name fool you – ‘Green Mountain’ sugar maple is anything but green come autumn! Heralded as some of the reddest-reds and orangiest-oranges in fall foliage, ‘Green Mountain’ sugar maple is an unmatched shade tree selection perfect for giving an explosion of bright fall color to lawns, parks, or anywhere that it is allowed to have space to flourish. As with other sugar maples, you can expect this selection to get anywhere between 40-60’ high and 30-45’ wide, so make sure to give it the room it deserves!
Kate – Aster ‘Lady in Black’ ***-photos – Maybe it’s the goth girl in me that responds so passionately to this plant, but I absolutely live for the dark purplish-black foliage that holds up all season long, and is then bespeckled with tiny white blossoms with pink centers. Despite their demure size, the flowers are highly attractive to bees which benefit from the late season nectar.
Ilex verticillata ‘Winter Gold’ ***photos – The minute I was introduced to a mature ‘Winter Gold’ winterberry holly being used as a specimen tree in the Winter Garden at Ambler Arboretum at Temple University, it was love at first sight. The bright mandarin orange fruits, which attach directly to and wrap whimsically around the dark branches of this native shrub, range in shades from soft peach to bold tangerine. They remain on the shrub for the entire winter, foliage and snow be damned, giving a splashy pop of color to the dreary grey-brown landscape. The orange berries make ‘Winter Gold’ winterberry holly a seasonally appropriate addition to Halloween-inspired container plantings and fresh cut flower arrangements.
Viburnum nudum Brandywine™ (‘Bulk’) ***photos (fruit, Road) – I’m a sucker for fruiting plants with “berries” (read: drupes) apparently – and ‘Brandywine’ possumhaw viburnum is quite possibly one of the most beautiful fruiting shrubs native to our region. Glaucous, unapologetically vibrant pinkish-red and dark bluish-black fruits appear simultaneously in dense clusters, mingled amongst glossy, lustrous green foliage that graphically offsets the brightly colored drupes. Brandywine™ benefits from planting in multiples for best cross pollination and fruit set.
Susan – Acer rubrum ‘October Glory’ – The only thing better than a red maple’s ability to handle wet soils is its stunning red fall color. ‘October Glory’ red maple is quite a fitting name, as this entire tree goes up in a magnificent blaze of reds and oranges come the shorter daylight hours in early fall. Ours are still pretty green at the moment, so grab them before they go into fall color!
Lindera angustifolia – A timeless classic and one of our top-tier bread-and-butter selections. Absolutely stunning fall color that goes unmatched – a rainbow of fiery reds, oranges, yellows, and bronzy purples.
Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Smoke Signal’ ***-photos – This may be quickly becoming one of our favorite little bluestem selections that we’ve ever grown here at Pleasant Run. Strikingly dark, subdued blues and purples make this grass a heavily contrasted focal point within both the landscape as well as container plantings.
Trevor – Cephalanthus occidentalis ‘Sugar Shack’ – Talk about unparalleled fall color! ‘Sugar Shack’ buttonbush explodes with painterly color once the weather cools down, looking much like a Jackson Pollock masterpiece with splatterings of red, yellow, and green intermingled with orange, purple, maroon, and bronze – sometimes, all on one single leaf!
Callicarpa americana – The nearly artificial look of a fruiting plant with the appeal of native ecosystem services? Yes, please! The bright magenta-purple fruits that cover the branches of our American beautyberry shrubs are reminiscent of those fake Styrofoam fruits our moms used to buy to decorate in the 90’s – they’re so brightly colored and charming that you’ll just HAVE to touch them. Luckily, you can eat them too, unlike those Styrofoam grapes that you used to squish to oblivion, but their taste leaves something to be desired – don’t worry though, they’ll be gleaned clean by birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and other native critters in no time.
Kristin – Fothergilla gardenia – While the fluffy white inflorescences of witch alder might be considered one of the best flowering displays of a native shrub in the Mid-Atlantic, the color transition of the foliage in fall deserves its own celebration. Fiery reds, orange hues, and tinges of apricot yellow adorn the entire shrub in fall, emblazoning the garden as a foundation specimen or as an electrifying deciduous hedge.
Itea virginica ‘Merlot’ – Deep, wine-red foliage that persists throughout the fall and even sticks around well into winter after many things have already defoliated. ‘Merlot’ Virginia sweetspire greets cooler temperatures with a bright cardinal red that fades to a deep burgundy, giving this shrub an unexpected luster late into the year.
Lindera benzoin – Golden yellow fall color paired with the glossy, bright red fruits of this native deciduous shrub make spicebush a must-have for the woodland garden. Crushed, fallen leaves provide a subtle but pleasant aroma, and the fruits are enjoyed by birds which help to spread spicebush volunteers far and wide in our local forests. American spicebush is typically ignored by deer even when food sources are minimal and deer are desperate, making it a wonderful selection for deer-heavy locations.
Lisa – Amsonia hubrichtii – It’s often difficult to find a flowering perennial with multiple seasons of interest and for reasons aside from the flowers themselves, but Amsonia hubrichtii is here to defy the odds. Sprays of light blue flowers in spring, delicate, plum-like light green foliage in summer, and finally a gradient of fall-centric hues to round out the growing year make this amsonia a dynamic asset in the landscape.
Viburnum nudum cvs. – Don’t just take our word for ‘Brandywine’ possumhaw viburnum’s bright and shiny attributes, check out our alternative Viburnum nudum cultivar, ‘Winterthur’, to see which is the best option for your project site!
Taxodium cvs. – The various bald and pond cypresses planted around the Pleasant Run property are testaments to the stunning seasonality these trees bring to the landscape. Each fall, before dropping their needles, these deciduous native conifers deck themselves out in a bright golden yellow before fading to a rich chestnut brown. The feathery needles lend a softness to rain and moist woodland gardens, both throughout the growing season and well into their fall display.
Kenny – Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Slender Silhouette’ – The palmate, lobed foliage of our native sweetgum trees is one of the most identifiable characteristics of this species, but it’s truly the fall when this species transforms to a beacon of autumnal hues. Purples, crimsons, oranges, and shades of yellow are often seen in tandem, while the brown, texturally interesting “spiky balls” linger amongst the colorful leaves to create an overall specimen of divine seasonal beauty. ‘Slender Silhouette’ American sweetgum is a columnar cultivar, wonderful for transforming tight spaces with its narrow form.
Euphorbia x martinii ‘Ascot Rainbow’ (PP21401) - Chilly mornings and dark early nights bring out a reddish-pink to burgundy blush to the variegated gold-and-green foliage, covering this entire plant in a rainbow of color. Use in part shade areas with rocky, dry, well-draining soils. Looks best grouped or massed due to its dense and compact growth habit.
Ready to get planting? Check out our availability to add these great seasonal selections to your next order. Finally, a very important reminder: next Thursday, September 26th, is our very own Carl Hesselein’s birthday. Make sure to stop by and congratulate him on making it another year!
