Best thing to do? Take a ride, never mind the high gas prices. It is Nature’s last gift to us before the landscape subsides into restful browns and soothing beiges.

But looking at all the beautiful fall colours may inspire you to add fall garden colour to your garden. To help you out, I’ve chosen some of my favourite fall plants to share with you.

Five best fall trees

In my opinion, the 5 best trees for intense colours in eastern Canada (in alphabetical order):

Birch (Betula spp.)…delicate yellow. Height and width varies with species. Mostly Zones 4 to 9, Paper birch (B. papyrifera hardy to zone 2).

Maple (Acer spp.) …all of them from the intense red of amur maple to the yellow/gold bigleaf maple. Height and width vary with species. Most maples trees grow from Zone 3 to 8.

Ornamental pear (Pyrus calleryana)…Colours depends on variety, from orange to red through to purple. Height and width dependent on variety, but it’s usually classified in the small tree section (under 30 ft or 9m ). Zones 5 to 9.

Europen Larch (Larix decidua) just because it’s one of the few deciduous conifers. Lovely yellow to amber yellow fall colour. Height 75 ft (23m) high, 30 ft (9m) wide. Zones 2 to 6

Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) Colours vary by variety: yellow, orange or red fall foliage. Most common species found in Canadian nursery is Amelanchier x grandiflora. I have A.’Autumn Brillance’ in my backyard and it turns a lovely orange/red before darkening to an intense red. Grows to 25 ft (7.5m) high, with a similar spread. Zones 4 to 9.