9 Fall Color Shrubs for the Landscape

Many people think first of trees for fall color. And it is no wonder, considering how much color we get from maples, oaks, and others. But there are 9 fall color shrubs for the landscape which should be considered as much as the trees you purchase.

These 9 fall color shrubs will not only enhance your landscape during autumn, but add color and wildlife attraction throughout all seasons. Shrubs, along with trees, are the bones of the landscape in winter.

Why Add Fall Color Shrubs?

Shrubs can stand up to more conditions that perennials and even trees in many cases. Often, shrubs are overlooked as part of the landscape, because they usually only flower in the spring or early summer, and are often too big to fit into many landscapes.

But with new plant breeding technologies, especially from Proven Winners and First Editions, there are many different kinds and sizes of shrubs to choose from. So now everyone can have added fall color in the landscape from their shrubs.

Fall color shrubs not only bring extra color to the garden in autumn, they also provide shelter for birds and other wildlife, and they can help balance the size of a landscape. Shrubs fill gaps that perennials leave when they die back in the winter. Many shrubs provide long-lasting berries through the winter months.

The 9 Fall Color Shrubs

While there are lots of shrubs with excellent fall color, these 9 have some great other features as well. And even though most gardeners yearn for those hues of bright and brilliant red, I have also included orange and yellow as well. For fall colors can be mixed even on one plant.

Black Chokeberry

Also known as Aronia, black chokeberry leads the way with fall color. Whether it is from its leaves turning shades of rust, orange, or scarlet, or from the bright blue-black berries that persist into winter, it does not matter. It is a powerhouse when it comes to fall color. And it is the best replacement for burning bush in the landscape when switching from non-native to native.

Black chokeberry has been heavily bred for berry production in Scandinavia; it is prized for its healthy juice. But here in the United States, we value it for all its benefits, including as a superfood, wildlife value, and landscape features.

Depending on which cultivar you choose for your landscape, it can range in height from 8 inches to 12 feet, and in width from 3 feet to 12 feet. In April and May, black chokeberry puts on a garment of pale pink to pure white blossoms, attracting early bees and butterflies. The glossy green leaves resist most pests, and the blue-black fruit ripens in September. Autumn colors are a mix of reds and oranges and can often be all scarlet.

Best Cultivars

These cultivars are best for their landscape value. While the fruits are certainly just as edible as those grown for juice, these have more value as an overall landscape shrub. They do best in full to part sun, and can take wet or dry areas.

Autumn Magic - grows 4 to 6 feet tall and wide
Ground Hug - a low-growing, groundcover types, grows 8 to 14 inches high by 2 to 3 feet wide
Low Scape Snowfire - stays a nice 3 to 4 feet tall and wide, perfect for most landscapes.

Cotoneaster Autumn Inferno

I came across this cultivar of cotoneaster in 2026 when ordering shrubs for the store. I am always interested in tough shrubs with great fall color, and this one stands out. If I can get our designers to pick up on it, it could be a replacement for burning bush as well.

Pest free and drought tolerant, this shrub has everything going for it. It size is not overpowering, growing 5 to 6 feet tall by 4 to 5 feet wide. And it has some of the best fall colors, along with bright red berries! Plant Autumn Inferno in full to part sun and be dazzled by its autumn color.

Sandcherry Jade Parade

I love the name of this shrub! It just sings to me. And it is one of the toughest native shrubs you can add to the landscape. When it first arrived on the scene from First Editions plants, I immediately added it into a landscape that is notorious for underwatering their plants. Jade Parade not only survived but thrived!

Grows roughly 3 feet tall by 6 feet wide, Jade Parade sandcherry has lanceolate leaves which are dark green through summer, turning shades of orange, apricot, and red in autumn. It prefers full sun but can take part shade, as long as it gets at least 5 hours of direct sunlight. And it is super drought tolerant. In the spring, Jade Parade boasts creamy white, fragrant flowers, which sometimes turn into apricot sized, edible plums.

Arrowwood Viburnum

Over the years, this has been one of the most popular and most durable native shrubs in the landscape. I have several clients who have had these in the garden for over 25 years! And while they can be routinely pruned down to size, they do not require yearly pruning. Native east of the Missouri River, they do very well in the Midwest and Great Plains regions, as well as along the Atlantic Seaboard.

There has been a lot of work with viburnums to choose cultivars with consistent flowering and fruiting, as well as size limitations. Who really wants a 15 foot tall, suckering shrub in the landscape? Very few people really do. So there are cultivars now that stay in a more manageable size.

Best cultivars include:

Blue Muffin is the Proven Winners choice for arrowwood. It has electric blue berries following pure white flowers. Growing 7 to 8 feet tall and wide, it is more dwarfing than the species. Blue Muffin turns red in autumn, with blue berries.
Glitters and Glows is another Proven Winners selection, which grows 5 feet tall and wide. One of the problems with Blue Muffin is that you need a pollinator (2 Blue Muffins will pollinate each other usually). But Glitters and Glows has 2 separate cultivars in the same plant, for pollination.
Red Feather is one of my favorites, mainly because it is a bigger plant. It grows 8 to 10 feet tall and wide, perfect for my shrub border. Fall color is light red, almost pink at times.
Autumn Jazz is another large cultivar, great for screening or hedges, growing 10-12 feet tall and wide.

Fothergilla

Without a great common name, this standout shrub is often overlooked in the nursery and the landscape. Native to the Southeastern US, it has worked well in partial shade in the Midwest and Great Plains regions. Here in Northeast Kansas, fothergilla grows best in moist, partly shaded landscapes. I have seen it planted in full sun, and it stays smaller and usually gets spider mites by late summer, which causes early fall color.

The fall color comes in shades of orange, apricot, yellow, and red. But cultivars often are chosen for one color or the other.

Legend of the Small from Proven Winners has become our go-to for the landscape, because of its small stature, growing only 3 feet tall and wide. White, bottle-brush flowers are fragrant in early spring, and the fall color leans to the orange-apricot shade.
Legend of the Fall is another Proven Winners variety, but with more size, growing 4-5 feet tall and wide. It turns more reddish in autumn than its counterpart.
Mount Airy is a well-known standard variety, growing 5-6 feet tall and wide with creamy white flowers. It is more like the native than other cultivars, with fall colors ranging from reds and purples to yellows and oranges.

Dwarf Flowering Almond

Almost no one looks forward to adding yellow fall color to the landscape. But do not overlook the chance to add a plant that turns golden-yellow in autumn. Just like the ginkgo, the dwarf flowering almond turns a shade of yellow that is hard to come by in other plants.

Best known for its super-showy pink flowers in spring, the dwarf flowering almond cannot be overlooked for fall color. It grows 4-5 feet tall and wide, and does best in full to part sun in the Midwest and Great Plains.

Ninebark

One of the easiest to grow shrubs for the Midwest and Great Plains region, ninebarks have surprisingly great fall color. They might be best known for their ease of pruning and dark leaf colors, but their fall colors are just as important in the landscape.

Depending on which cultivar you choose, they can grow anywhere from 3 to 12 feet tall and wide. Leaf colors are primarily red or purple, which some chartreuse cultivars. The native eastern ninebark has bright green leaves. And their fall colors? Shades of red enliven the landscape each autumn.

Little Devil is one of the most popular cultivars, growing 5 feet tall and wide, in an arching, vase-shaped form if only pruned hard each spring. Its fall color is red to red-purple.
Diablo is an older variety, growing 10 to 12 feet tall and wide, with bright red fall color.
Amber Jubilee is a selection from Bailey Nursery (First Editions) which has shades of orange, gold, and yellow through summer, and purple-red foliage in fall. It grows 5-6 feet tall by 4-5 feet wide.

Oakleaf Hydrangea

What would we do if we could not add this hydrangea into the landscape? Withstanding both full sun and full shade, the oakleaf is on of the most versatile shrubs in the fall color landscape. Varieties can grow anywhere from 3 to 15 feet tall and wide. Besides creamy white flowers in midsummer, it has unique leaves which turn mahogany-red to maroon in fall.

Jetstream is a popular First Editions cultivar, growing 5-6 feet tall by 4-5 feet wide. Its flowers begin white and age to a creamy pink-red color. And the foliage turns scarlet red in autumn.
Gatsby Pink is a Proven Winners selection which grows 6-8 feet tall and wide, with creamy white turning bright pink flowers. Fall colors are shades of red and purple.
Sike's Dwarf is the most compact oakleaf hydrangea, growing only 2-3 feet tall and wide with bight white flowers. It turns shades of red and purple in the fall.

Burning Bush Fireball Seedless

I wound not mention this plant if it did not have a seedless option. But Fireball Seedless from Proven Winners is a step in the right direction. It has long been known that burning bush (Euonymus alatus) can escape the landscape and fill up the woods of the eastern US. But this new cultivar can replace its weedy cousins, and help homeowners feel good about its color again.

Fireball Seedless grows 5-7 feet tall and wide, and is a great plant for hedges, shrub borders, and specimen plants along the house. Dark green in summer and easy to prune, it turns the brightest shade of red of any of the fall color shrubs.

Companion Plants for Fall Color Shrubs

Whether you are adding these to an existing landscape or putting in an all-new design, be sure to add goo companions that not only add value for autumn, but look good with these shrubs all season long. Ornamental grasses, perennials, and other shrubs can add depth to the landscape in a variety of ways.

With help from a designer (see about our designers here), you could pick and choose from the following list of plants for your best landscape!

Conclusion

While there are many different trees and shrubs for fall color, the above 9 shrubs take the cake when it comes to fall colors. By adding them throughout the landscape, you can assure an assortment of fall colors sure to have neighbors buzzing.

Happy planting!

# Fall Color Shrubs fall color flowering shrubs ninebark sandcherry shrubs

Andrew Mitchell September 3, 2026