Useful plants with fall color bonus

The staghorn sumacs I planted this year are turning an amazing scarlet-orange color. In our part of the world, we get yellow aspen and cottonwoods, but not much red in our autumn colors. It looks awesome against the backdrop of our cottonwood windbreak.

I'm planning a new sheet mulch area alongside the homestead driveway that I would like to have multiple functions but look spectacularly colorful in the fall. Fishing for ideas on what's coloring up right now besides the obvious sugar maples and aspens.

What other plants are you admiring this fall?

I really like the goldenrod, they are beatiful, and make a great tea, and have medicinal value.

Blueberries! Their leaves turn a lovey red/burgundy, and the berries are delicious!

I'd like to eventually get witch-hazel. Has some nice medical uses, and sure is pretty in the winter/fall!

Some trees like paper birch, and black maple have attractive bark and look quite sculptural after the leaves are lost. Mountain ash holds on to brightly colored berries after most plants are drab.

From http://plants.usda.gov/adv_search.html, searching on the following criteria,

Fall Conspicuous: Are the leaves or fruits conspicuous during Autumn from a landscaping aesthetics standpoint?

Yes, No

Search Results

Great ones! I forgot about the USDA site.

The apricots here seem to turn a bit of color. Rabbitbrush is a good late fall bee plant. Wine grapes go various colors.

Nicole Alderman wrote:
I'd like to eventually get witch-hazel. Has some nice medical uses, and sure is pretty in the winter/fall!

Funny, we have soooo much witch hazel and I can't figure out what to do with it but chop & drop. The color doesn't really pop comparatively speaking.

Here's a Red Oak looking pretty red:

Serviceberry (Amelanchiers spp.) are beautiful in spring whith white flowers, very good fruit in summer and nice fall leaf color.
For fruit i really like Ballerina cultivar.