Nice! My best color in Sonoma County is from persimmon, Viburnum opulus 'Roseum', Nyssa sylvatica, Fothergilla, Ginkgo, Parrotia, Rhus, Acer griseum and Acer x 'Sugarflake'. I don't get great color out of the Itea, but the Itea don't look great in general. Do you have them in shade or sun? If you can grow them I should be able to! ;-) If you don't have a Nyssa you might want to look into getting one. I have a lot of the straight species, but I also just bought two cultivars from Peacock Horticultural, 'Autumn Cascade' and 'Red Rage'. Nyssa are dioecious, and if you have both sexes the females produce dark dark blue berries that are small but very ornamental. Oh and I also get good color out of Berberis. I'm a transplanted Northeasterner, and I miss the fall colors of my childhood, hence the focus. What else do you get good color from?

Sara, I've thought of you many times since the awful fires. Hopefully you and loved ones were all spared as well as your wonderful garden!

I am surprised Itea doesn't do well for you. I grow three varieties, Little Henry, Merlot, and Henry's Garnet. I can't tell the Henry's apart, but it doesn't really matter, they all look quite wonderful. Merlot is taller and slightly less spectacular in color. They grow in varying degrees of sun, from half day or more to half day or less and it doesn't seem to matter, they all look good.

I have a Nyssa sinensis! You might remember I was hunting for one early this year. Unable to find one, I resorted to buying two tiny trees (about 18" tall) from Forest Nursery in Oregon. They grew very slowly this summer for me, adding only a few inches in height, though I liked them. But in early Äugest I received a phone call from Berkeley Hort that they had found Nyssa Tupelo Tower (huh??) for me. To make a really long story short the conversation evolved and the wholesaler had three neglected Nyssa sinensis, of which one could be salvaged for sale. I jumped on it. It is most definitely not a prize specimen with a damaged leader and many secondary branches leafless. But of course I'm hoping it will look better in a few years. Here's a not so good picture of it I took too late in the day for good lighting, but it also means you can't see it's many flaws.

I also succumbed to a Cladrastis lutea which i don't really have room for and I am much pleased with it. Fall color was a beautiful yellow, but it's fall display came early and wasn't as lengthy as I would have liked.

Here's a photo of another Fothergilla (Jane Platt) that I bought just last year and it's colored beautifully I think.

i do. have a Japanese maple that elicits a wow from me whenever I look it's way, Acer 'Tsuma Beni'

Another Japanese Maple (Waterfall) that I like because it's fall color is yellow, though it's already lost some of its leaves so the photo below misses its peak fall color..

Acer Inaba Shidari

Hydrangeas generally color well for me. I've lost the name of this one :-(

This is a dwarf H. quercifolia with an almost odd color of chocolate burgundy. I think the color is still evolving.

I have a lot of Blueberries which I grow mainly for their fall color. This is an example:

I'm crazy about ornamental grasses; perhaps they reflect my roots in Illinois, the Prairie State. Whatever the reason, they melt my heart in the fall. This is Panicum Heavy Metal.

Vitus Rogers Red is overgrowing its space and I'm going to hate to cut it back and miss out on such a great fall color display. This is just one section....

I've reached the end of allowable photos so this is it for now.

I don't have a good photo, but would like to submit oakleaf hydrangea as a contender. Also viburnum rufidulum for a good native that holds those pretty purple leaves for a long time.

Burning bush:

Ohmygosh, so glad you've brought up Hydrangea quercifolia. They are usually just wonderful in fall in my garden and they cling to their colorful leaves for a long time. I think it's a bit early for them here as most are just starting to color up. If you want to see the many varieties in fall splendor, check out this link:

Hydrangea quercifolia in fall colors

i notice Sara Malone has an good article on them talking about their many virtues:

Hydrangea quercifolia

Yes, H. quercifolia fantastic and I forgot V. Roger's Red, too. I have it on trellises so don't need to do much cutting back. Love your N. sinensis - great story. Some really nice photos! I also forgot Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' which colors a soft lemony yellow. My Cladrastis don't do much for me in autumn but they both bloomed this year for the first time after 15 years in the ground. Remember that thread about winter chill? Getting off topic here...

So far it looks to me like you may have ended up with one of their Nyssa sylvatica, instead of the desired N. sinensis. It depends on what the leaves are like up close, including that usually these are often noticeably and uniformly at the large (10-15 cm) end of the range on the Chinese species - the summer aspect reminds me of an avocado plant.

http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=94407&flora_id=2

Whereas those of the American species vary from 5.5–12(–16) cm, with a fair diversity of size often being evident on individual specimens.

It also looks like if you are concerned about garden water use the cat is long out of the bag on that subject!

A few more fall color plants in my garden:

So far this has been a great year for fall color though i think it has been spread out over a longer season than usual as some of my fall color plants have barely started to color (Viburnums, Persimmon, and H, quercifolia and H. paniculata)

Even my Blackjack fig tree has put on a bit of a show this year.

Dwarf Ginkgo Chase Manhattan. Too bad I've no room for the full size tree :-(

Enkianthus Showy Lantern. It's not a great show; hopefully there will be more size to this one next fall and it will put in a more impressive show.

Calluna Firefly, getting started on its colorful fall and winter presence. I have several more Callunas which also put on beautiful winter shows.

A couple more grasses that look so beautifully showy to me in the fall are Pennisetum alopecuroides Desert Plains

Here's yet another grass I like very much, Stipa arundinacea (or Anemanthele lawsoniana) that looks like it's in fall colors all year.

My new this year and still very small Cladrastis lutea showing me for the first time what it's fall color will look like and it pleases me greatly as I have far too little yellow in my fall garden.

Too bad conifers don't count as fall color standouts, but I'll put this photo up anyway because it certainly adds to the fall show in my garden, even though it looks like this all year.. It's a dwarf Chamecyparis cultivar. There's a very blue dwarf Picea pungens Glauca Globosa specimen in the shadows to its right against the fence that is equally showy in fall and all year. .

Sara and Echolane, what is your soul ph and soil type?

nice pics!

I'm neutral to slightly alkaline and adobe. I'm guessing that Echolane is slightly acid as her Enkianthus and Calluna look great.

I've no idea what the ph of my soil is. I live in a low spot and I'm told the adobe clay here is 40-50 feet deep and is typically slightly alkaline. But 30 years or more ago I had 40 yards or firbark, 40 yards of river sand and 40 yards of redwood bark brought in and mixed because I wanted to grow rhodies And also because in wet winters I would strike water at not much more than a shovel deep. Since I have a small yard, that raised my soil level quite a bit and I still benefit from that in most parts of my garden. I also never discard the fallen leaves from my large Pin Oak. Most stay under the tree and I move excess to all parts of my garden. So I expect my soil is neutral to slightly acidic. My many blueberries seem quite healthy. I did think the new Disanthus looked a little chlorotic this summer so I seem to remember putting an acidifier on top the soil and adding a bunch of half rotted Pin oak leaves as mulch. It has seemed fine since.

Embo--As to whether my Nyssa is sylvatica instead of sinensis, that would surprise me considering its back story, but I'll do my best tomorrow to see if I can tell one way or the other. I do have the two young Asians here which might help some.

The cat is long out of the bag! Yep, my plant choices mean my garden uses a lot of water. More than I can really afford :-(. My resolve to go more native has actually made a little progress, but I'd have to do a complete remodel to make a real difference. That has so far proven to be too painful.

Sara--I do remember very well the bit about winter chill and your reluctant Cladrastis and I also remember voting for you to stick with it. Hope the wait was worth it :-)

Also, the Cornus Midwinter Fire reads like something I'd love to have in my garden and not just for its lemony fall color. Wish I had more room!

You can tell about your tree from the leaf sizes, among other things. And try showing a closer view here.

Heavy mulching can make a big difference to water retention and the need for watering. Sunset once had an article about a guy in an L.A. neighborhood that had produced this wonderful soil on his lot by gathering fallen leaves etc. from around the neighborhood and dumping them on his beds year after year.

Embo-- Here's a photo of my mini Nyssa sinensis from Forest Farm Nursery. If you look closely on the left of center you can see a loose unattached leaf that doesn't belong to it, lying on top the canopy. That is a leaf from the large Nyssa. They look identical to me, but I'm no botanist.

Here's a second photo...

Here's a few pics from my garden today.

Spirea japonica, not sure what cultivar. I have many.

Rheingold arborvitae. Eye-catching colors 365 days a year.

My front yard.

A shrub you never hear mentioned when fall color is discussed is Spirea 'Ogon'. Now that leaves are down off of just about everything, the chartreuse leaves of 'Ogon' are turning orange. Happens every year and it's just gorgeous. Sorry, can't post pics.

Yes those Spirea thunbergii are glorious in fall here, although they haven't started to color yet. They are Dec/Jan color in Sonoma County CA and are pushing new leaves as the old ones fall off. Good reminder. Cotinus x 'Grace', much as I hate it for other reasons, does put on a nice show in autumn. There are two flanking the path, with Acer p. 'Bihou' strutting its yellow bark in front on left:

Grace really puts on a colorful fall display! I grew it for awhile and can't remember why I discarded it. Why do you "hate it for other reasons"?

Bihou looks really interesting!

I looked up Spiraea 'Ogon' and came across this very flattering writeup:

ONLY ONE DECIDUOUS SHRUB here still has its leaves at Thanksgiving, and what amazing leaves they are. Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’ remains the richest gold, weeks after any other shrub but evergreens and fruit-filled hollies were worth a second look. I can’t stop looking at ‘Ogon’ (Japanese for “gold”), which catches my eye even though it’s at the farthest edge of the garden, beckoning. I have read that in the Pacific Northwest, ‘Ogon’ (Zones 4-8, sun to part shade) may even keep its leaves, and color—the kind of golden that’s closer to orange than yellow–until Christmas.

Other Spiraea thunbergii in this area are currently in autumn dress. I would expect this cultivar would be also.

My Spirea thunbergii are all still green. In another month they will be orange. I hate 'Grace' because the plant is, to me, unwieldy. It can grow 12-15 feet in one year, curving back upon itself. I have tried everyhting. No pruning, pruning when dormant, pruning after it has completely leafed out, and it is still a thug. The fall color is magnificent but otherwise it would be in the compost!

Oh and I have also Spirea t. 'Mt Fuji'. It's fall display is magnificent.

Although late to this thread here is one of my favorite fall color options, Amsonia hubrichtii (Arkansas Blue Star).

K & D, Thanks for introducing me to a plant I know nothing about, especially one that is good for fall color. I don't recall ever seeing it in a nursery; I'll have to make a point of watching for it.

And it gets big...allow for a mid shrub setting for A. hubrichtii, don't think it's a slender perennial.

I just planted two amsonia hubrichtii this last spring. They barely grew at all this year but I hear that's normal. I am hoping to pop some eyeballs out next autumn with these and the Pearl Glam beautyberry I planted in front of them.

Yes, Amsonia is a slow starter, but a nice finisher. That's a four-year old planting below. That's Panicum v. 'Cloud Nine' behind it.

I love amsonia. Stunning in large drifts in the fall. Mine took a couple years to look really good. I also love the maybe pedestrian cotinus for fall color. I coppice mine to keep it smallish in my front bed.

It goes from that lovely purple to brilliant shades of orange and red. Here’s a few photos to show the progression from early October into November.

Fabulous foil for the last rose of the year.