November 5, 2004

The right plants can bring color and festivity into fall gardens

By Shari Kaplan
Staff Writer

Some people think of autumn as a season when flowers fade, leaves fall and days become shorter and colder. All of this is true, but autumn is also a season when certain flowers have turned into festive berries; certain leaves turn magnificent colors before they fall and the reduced time for outdoor activities leaves more time for indoor ones—like decorating with plant-derived items.

Red berries and green leaves
James Pierpont’s classic song “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” often comes to mind when I see my three favorite sources for natural red-and-green décor; cotoneaster (Cotoneaster spp.), firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea) and toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia).

Two of the three are evergreen, all grow as shrubs of varying sizes, all grow best in full- to part-sun, and all have rather small leaves, unremarkable light-colored flowers and striking red or orange berries. The physical similarities are no accident, as they all belong to the same family—Rosaceae. They’re also a favorite food source for migrating or overwintering birds.

Firethorn is a vigorous evergreen shrub popularly grown as an informal hedge or espalier. It has the densest berry clusters of the trio. At times whole areas of the shrub are awash in red or orange fruit! It also has sharp thorns.

Toyon, sometimes called Christmas berry or California holly, is an evergreen shrub known for bright red, pea-sized berries that hang in pretty clusters. It may also grow as a small, multi-trunked tree.

Cotoneaster is usually the least bountiful for berries, but the most beautiful for fall color. The leaves of some species turn almost glowing shades of yellow, orange or red as cold weather sets in. Cotoneaster may be evergreen, semi-evergreen or deciduous, depending on the individual species as well as the climate in which it is grown.

Some people bring the branches of any or all of these shrubs into the house, especially to decorate Thanksgiving and Christmas tables. I don’t know how well the berries dry, but they’ll certainly look bright and fresh for many days.

Fall color, unusual seedpods
Most folks don’t bring American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) branches into the house, but just about everyone appreciates the tree’s display of fall color. Depending on the cultivar and the amount of shade in which the sweetgum has been grown, its five- to seven-lobed leaves may turn red, orange, yellow, gold, peach, burgundy, reddish-purple or some combination of these. Most local sweetgums are defoliating quite slowly, so there’s still time to appreciate them.

I’ve made some attractive pressed leaves by collecting the foliage and pressing it between clean, white papers inserted in a heavy book. Some people collect the sweetgum’s round, spiny seedpods and use them in wreaths or other dried seasonal arrangements (alder cones, small pinecones and acorns are also attractive for this purpose).

I’ve even seen the pods spray-painted silver or gold! Personally, I think they also look good when simply allowed to hang on throughout winter—like miniature medieval maces on an otherwise bare tree.

The money plant (Lunaria annua) doesn’t turn any colors in autumn, but this humble little biennial—also called Honesty—is prized for dried floral arrangements. After a spring-to-summer blooming period, its propeller-shaped purple flowers slowly transform themselves into flat, disc-like seedpods.

The outer coverings then fall off, along with the seeds they contain, leaving a smooth, translucent membrane or “coin.” Perhaps that’s where the money plant gets its other common name: its coins can’t buy anything, so they keep people honest!