By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

You don't need to live in a cold climate or have a property big enough for a large deciduous tree to enjoy fall color. Libertia ixioides ''Taupo Blaze' has the same gold, orange, and red colors we admire in fall leaves in its thin grassy blades.  But this perennial grows only 18 inches tall.  Its colors and handsome erect shape make it an outstanding container plant for autumn.  Place it where it will be backlit if you can for the most dazzling effect.

This New Zealand cultivar is believed to be more cold tolerant than L. peregrinans -- 0-10 degrees Farenheit vs. 10-15.  The plant flowers in the spring, but on stems shorter than the foliage, so not very conspicuously.  Its small, 3-petaled white flowers are followed by yellow-orange seed pods.

'Taupo Blaze' keeps its fall colors until summer when it turns yellow-green before darkening again in fall and winter.