Variable show yet predictable color
Nature's fall color show can certainly vary in intensity and
duration. Colors may be saturated or subdued, and might last months
one autumn but only a few weeks the following year.
Yet fall's tones and times are predictable because the various
plant species know their color range and place in the overall
sequence. So when you choose trees and shrubs, ask "What color does
it turn, and when?" With that information you can create brilliant
combinations and also extend the show in your landscape.
The fall display may glow with gold, orange, red and the
purplish red called maroon, from the tree tops all the way down to
the perennial garden. Above, left to right: linden, hickory, sugar
maple, serviceberry, red maple, and pin oak. Click on an image
above for a closer look or a plant name on the list below for an
image.
Many perennials can contribute to the fall color show, such
as the perennial woodland wildflower at right, Solomon's seal
(Polygonatum biflorum).
Below: Our list includes some shrubs which have reliable
fall color. Burning bush is well known (below, left) but sweetspire
(below, right) is as reliable but less well known. You may have
seen a shrub from our list in fall and thought, "What a pretty
tree!" since so many shrubs, including a number of those listed
here, can grow to nearly 20' in height. Keep them in mind for
places that need fall color but are too small for a tree.
Above, right: (a) Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica)
is a fitting companion to mums while privet (b) and mophead
hydrangea (c) contribute little to the fall show.
Fall color guard
Here are the colors of fall and plants likely to produce each
hue.
• Glorious gold
• Love that orange
• Reveling in red
• Mighty maroon
The plants in each group are listed in order from those that are
usually first to turn, to the latest. Most are trees; asterisks
mark shrubs. "Occasional contributors" are species that are not
known for stellar color but may sometimes shine.
Pardon our dust: We've created not only this over
fall color tour but individual fall color galleries for most of the
trees we listed while on our road trip. Yet there are still more to
come. We are adding them as we can. If a tree you'd like to see in
fall color is not yet linked here to its own gallery of extra
images, let us know you're looking for it. We'll make it a
priority.
You can also Sponsor this collection of pages and speed its
completion! Submit a Sponsorship and note there
that the topic you're endorsing is fall color!
Glorious gold
ash
(Fraxinus; see also maroon)
aspen
(Populus tremuloides)
crabapples
(Malus)
hickory
(Carya)
bittersweet vine (Celastrus)
Ginkgo
yellowwood
(Cladrastis)
birch
(Betula)
summersweet* (Clethra
alnifolia)
witchhazel*,
spring blooming hybrids (Hamamelis x mollis; see also
orange)
locusts
(Gleditsia and Robinia)
silver
maple and box elder (Acer saccharinum and A.
negundo)
redbud
(Cercis) (image at right)
linden
(Tilia)
sweetshrub* (Calycanthus)
Katsura
(Cercidiphyllum)
bottlebrush buckeye* (Aesculus parvifolia)
American
witchhazel/fall witchhazel* (Hamamelis
virginiana)
weeping cherry and Kwanzan
cherry (Prunus serrulata)
tulip
tree, tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
Norway maple (Acer platanoides)
full moon Japanese maple (Acer
japonicum)
Occasional contributors in gold: Bittersweet vine,
Catalpa, cottonwood (poplar), elm, grape
vine, magnolia, mulberry, walnut, willow
Oh, we love that orange
Sassafras (image at
right; a sassafras tree may show yellow, orange and red all at
once)
sugar
maple (Acer saccharum)
hawthorn (Crataegus)
larch (Larix)
three-flower maple (Acer triflorum; may show maroon and
gold, too)
Amur maple (Acer ginnala)
staghorn- and fragrant sumac* (Rhus)
black cherry/Michigan cherry (Prunus serotina; may vary
to gold or maroon)
serviceberry
(Amelanchier species; vary from orange to red)
Sargent cherry (Prunus sargentii)
sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
baldcypress (Taxodium
distichum)
trident maple (Acer
buergerianum)
red-leaf barberry* (Berberis)
dwarf spirea* (some Spiraea x bumalda varieties)
witchhazel, spring blooming
hybrids* (Hamamelis x mollis; see also yellow)
parrotia
(Parrotia persica)
Fothergilla*
dawn redwood
(Metasequoia glyptostroboides)
Stewartia
smoke tree/smoke bush (Cotinus)
Chinese
spicebush* (Lindera angustifolia)
callery pear (Pyrus calleryana; see also maroon)
paperbark maple (Acer griseum)
Japanese maples (Acer
japonicum, A. palmatum, A. shirashawanum, by
variety;
see also red and gold)
Occasional contributors in orange and butterscotch: Red
horsechestnut
Reveling in red
red
maple and red-silver hybrid maples (Acer rubrum and
Acer x freemanii)
Virginia
creeper and Boston ivy (Parthenocissus quinquefolia
and P. tricuspidata)
chokeberry* (Aronia)
shining sumac* (Rhus coppalina)
burning bush*
(Euonymus alatus)
sourwood/lily of the valley tree
(Oxydendrum arboreum)
scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea)
Japanese maple (Acer
palmatum; see also orange and gold)
Occasional contributors in red: Pin oak, red oak
Mighty maroon
(Some years some viewers might see these as red)
white
ash (some varieties of Fraxinus pensylvanica)
flowering dogwood Cornus
florida, image at right)
various
viburnums* (doublefile Viburnum mariesii
followed by tea viburnum, V. setigera, then arrowwood
V. dentatum and cranberrybushes V. trilobum and
V. opulus, etc.)
chokecherry (Prunus virginiana; may vary to gold or
maroon)
black
gum (Nyssa sylvatica, may vary from red to
maroon)
white oak group (white Quercus alba, burr oak Q.
macrocarpa, etc.)
callery pear (Pyrus calleryana; see also orange)