This is it, this is as good as it gets here at Squirrelhaven. Autumnal color in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago is past its peak, but not so on my street. For some reason, the trees and shrubs here always color up later. The street bed, above, is now dominated by the blazing reds of the Cotinus 'Ancot' (Golden Spirit smokebush), the red seedheads of Hylotelephium 'Becka' (Sedum Autumn Light), the foliage of Penstemon 'Dark Towers' and the Physocarpus opulifolius 'Monlo' (Diablo ninebark).
All it took was a little rain, a hard frost and voila!
the witch hazel (Hammamelis 'Sunburst') has gone from green to full color.
And finally, a shrub that most gardeners think of only for spring interest, which is a shame.
It's a Forsythia. I wish I knew which cultivar, as it reliably colors up every fall in my Zone 5 garden.
This post is part of Three for Thursday, sponsored by Cindy at From My Corner of Katy. Are your shrubs flaunting their fall finery?