Fothergilla

This shrub is always a pleasant surprise in the fall. It has beautiful creamy bottlebrush flowers in the spring, but all summer it allows the other plants to take center stage(s). Then in October it rises to the fore again, to become the most colorful plant in my garden.

As I was dealing with pesky fallen oak leaves I kept uncovering these gorgeous individual leaves. So I collected them and put them on the lawn to photograph. Despite numerous trips between the lawn and the computer, I was unable to really accurately capture them. This shot (with doctoring) was the closest I could come to an accurate depiction.

There are a lot of really nice pictures of the dwarf version, Fothergilla gardenii, on the website of the Missouri Botanical Garden.