You don't need a maple to paint the town red next fall
I recently moved into a house with a completely empty
front yard. I need to tree! It will be pretty much full sun. The
tree will have a decent amount of space to spread.
I read your articles here about not choosing the
same trees that are overplanted but I didn't see any tree
recommended that was listed as having great fall color. I really
want bright orange in the fall where it looks like the whole tree
is on fire. - J.C. -
Dear J.C.,
Sugar maples (Acer saccharum) are probably the best
known trees for flaming orange, and red maples (Acer
rubrum) for incendiary red. They aren't on my list of
recommended species for replacing ash trees only because maples are
already overused and so should not be prime candidates for
replacing more than 30 million ash trees we are losing to emerald
ash borer.
Lots of fall color photos
and a guide to plants in Fall color Landscape.
There are other trees with stand-out orange and red fall color,
however. Some such as sassafras (right), black gum (Nyssa
sylvatica), serviceberry (Amelanchier species) and
thornless 'Princeton Sentry' and 'Crusader' hawthorns
(Crataegus phaenopyrumand C. crusgalli varieties) are on
my list. Others were skipped reluctantly but deliberately to keep
the list relatively short and thus make it more appealing in this
era of overwhelming choices.
However, now that you've asked, here's the long list!
As you peruse it, think beyond simple color to timing. Our
position on the globe makes us one of the few regions with great
fall color. Those hues change week by week as different species
peak, so make the most of it -- go for combinations of trees and
shrubs that will yield a full five weeks of burning orange and
red.
Orange, red and maroon fall colors
Early October peak:
Trees: Amur maple (Acer ginnala), flowering dogwood,
red & sugar maples, sassafras, serviceberry
Shrubs: staghorn sumac, burning bush, doublefile viburnum
Late October peak
Trees: black gum, hawthorn, Japanese maples (Acer
palmatum), kousa dogwood, paperbark maple (Acer
griseum), red-silver hybrid maples (Acer x
freemanii), sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum), stewartia
(S. pseudocamellia), sweet gum (Liquidambar
styraciflua)
Shrubs: arrowwood viburnum, chokeberry (Aronia
species), fothergilla (F. gardenii), fragrant sumac
(Rhus aromatica)
Early November peak
Trees: red oak, white oak, Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana
varieties such as 'Redspire' and 'Chanticleer')
Shrubs: smoke bush (Cotinus species)
Include perennials and groundcovers that bloom late or glow with
fall foliage color, too! That's how to give gardeners we usually
envy, in England and California, their own taste of the green-eyed
monster. In those mild climes they may be able to grow more kinds
of plants than we can, but they know they have to come here for
fall color tours!
Green thumbs up
to cities replanting for diversity and to you who've sent for
the list of recommended, uncommon tree species to replace ashes
lost to emerald ash borer. In the next tree epidemic, your efforts
toward diversity will prevent the deforestation we're seeing now as
whole avenues planted in ash are stripped of cover. What you plant
now may even derail the next tree problem, when that insect or
disease fails to find continuous blocks of its target species to
fuel its spread..
Green thumbs down
to the garden center employees, sent to plant some large trees
for R.P. who said, "Nope, can't do that! We'll void your warranty
if you plant them that way!" And cheers for R.P. who replied, "You
will too plant them at grade, not elevated, and you will take off
all the cages and burlap, and you will not stake them. Because if
you plant them this way I'm specifying I will not need your
warranty!" And five years plus great growth have proven R.P.
right!
Originally published 11/15/03