Denny's Soapbox

Red leaf color is not just for fall

Every home owner appreciates red leaf color in the fall. It’s the brightest of all fall foliage color. Now thanks to many new tree and shrub varieties that same beautiful foliage color is available all season long. Another colorful benefit to these plant varieties are the flowers that bloom during the spring or summer. The following are some of my favorite plants that fit into this colorful category:

Shrubs

Dwarf Japanese Barberry looks great in a grouping or as a small hedge. A new variety available this year is called ‘Marshalls Upright’ which is narrow and grows upright with burgundy leaves.

‘Fireglow’ Japanese Maple maintains it’s deep wine-red leaf color that remains red through out the hot summer heat. Grows 8 to 12 feet high.

Black Lace Elderberry has purple-red leaves that resemble a Japanese Maple. It has great pink summer blooms and beautiful fruit in the fall. You can trim this plant to your desired size.

Nine Bark has two varieties to choose from. ‘Coppertina’ PW has coppery-orange leaves that turn a dark red in summer. ‘Summer Wine’ has dark crimson leaves. Both bloom pinkish-white flowers in late spring and will provide lots of leaf and bloom color with only a half day sun or more.

‘Aubrey Purple’ Hypericum - This low growing plant will have purple leaves when planted in full sun. To add to this plants beauty are the small yellow flowers it produces in clusters and berry–like fruits all summer.

‘Midnight Wine’ and ‘Wine and Roses’ Weigela - Both varieties have dark, metallic burgundy leaves with bright pink flowers in the spring. A half day (or more) of sun will keep these low growing shrubs beautiful.

Trees

‘Forest Pansy’ Red Bud - This tree maintains its beautiful purple leaves all growing season and produces lavender-pink flowers in the spring. This tree grows 15 feet high and wide. It will hold good leaf color with just a few hours of sun to a full day of sun.

Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood Japanese Maples’ - This is one of the larger growing varieties of Japanese Maple. Its average size is 15 feet tall and 15 ft wide. The deep purple-red colored leaves will hold their color all through the summer. Like all red leafed Maples, this variety needs to be planted in full sun for the best color.

‘Royal Purple’ Smoke Tree has reddish-purple leaves on a tree that grows 15 feet tall and wide. Pinkish-purple flowers appear in the summer. You’ll find some nurseries that mistakenly call this plant a bush, but believe me, it’s a tree.

‘Malus ‘Prairifire’ is a somewhat upright growing variety. The foliage starts out reddish maroon and fades somewhat throughout the season. It has bright red buds that open into pink blossoms and bears small, dark red fruit in the fall. This fruit holds fast to the tree and does not shed. This tree will grow to an average size of 20 feet tall and wide. It will grow and flower best when planted in full sun, but will tolerate moderate shade.

‘Canada Red’ Flowering Cherry is a very interesting tree that starts out with green leaves which turn red in the summer. It has white flowers in the spring and grows to an average of 15 feet high and wide. This is quickly becoming one of the most popular ornamental trees around and looks fantastic in any landscape. These are available with a single or multiple trunks.

Contact Denny McKeown, owner of Bloomin Garden Centre in Blue Ash, at www.bloomingarden.com

His gardening show airs 6-9 am Saturday on WUBE 105.1 FM