It’s colorful, sculptural, and almost native (cultivars aren’t purebreds but they’re close enough for me). It’s the Rhus typhina ‘Laciniata’ in my neighbor’s garden.
The primary objective in this garden was to attract birds and the homeowners requested lots of native plants. As you might have noticed by the nandina in this photo, what they got was a mixture of natives and imports, but they’re thrilled with the results. So am I and I’ll keep posting shots from this large, naturalistic garden still in its first year. Hey, there’s so many plants in this garden that are new to me I haven’t even learned all their names yet.
[In case anyone local is interested, the landscape architect was Holt Jordan of the Jordan Honeyman firm.]
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Interesting to see the Rhus in that new garden. Gardeners here have been advised against growing Rhus (not sure which variety, so it may be different to that one) due to the severe allergic reaction suffered by many people, particularly if they touch the leaves. The Pistachio tree, which looks very similar and also has spectacular autumn foliage, is usually grown instead.
The sumac we used was Rhus typhina ‘Lanciniata’. It has more deeply divided leaflets than the species and has great fall color. Poison Sumac, now named Toxicodendron vernix was formaly known as Rhus vernix may be the Rhus that you are refering to. It along with Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) can be very irritating to some.