Driving down Lake Shore Drive on the south side of Chicago has been an absolute delight recently, mainly because of the shapes and colors of red along the way. Most prominent in the center median strip are the sumacs that turn a vibrant clear red in fall. This year they’ve been particularly fine.

But making their display even more interesting are the masses of flame grass (Miscanthus sinensis var. purpurascens) growing alongside. Not really purple despite the name, this is a grass you don’t notice all summer long, but when the days shorten and the nights grow cool, its leaves turn a unique rosy hue that really sets off the sumacs. The frothy beige plumes contribute valuable textural contrast.

Flame grass (Miscanthus sinensi 'Purpurascens'
Photo courtesy of Bailey Nurseries

Also looking splendid this year are the Boston ivy and Virginia creeper I’ve seen throughout the city. There’s Virginia creeper in the Lake Shore Drive median strip, planted to be a ground cover rather than to play its usual role as a climber.

But what has really caught my eye is the Boston ivy clambering up the west wall of McCormick Place. The convention center’s gray brick wall is borderline depressing, but with the Boston ivy turning yellow, orange, red and a dozen shades in between, that wall has become a thing of beauty. There’s all that color but also the shiny, shifting textures of the leaves.

Joseph’s coat of many colors was surely no finer than this.

—Carolyn Ulrich