10 Trees with Amazing Fall Color... and One You Should Avoid!
I was recently pruning trees in a newer neighborhood on the east side of Columbus where every house had two red maple in the front yard. Although Red maple is a native tree to Ohio, this subdivision was planted with a cultivated variety of the species called ‘Red Sunset.’ ‘Red Sunset’ red maple was selected and well marketed for its compact habit, good branching structure and most notably for its showy and reliable orange to red fall color.
10 trees with amazing fall color
By TJ Nagel
I was recently pruning trees in a newer neighborhood on the east side of Columbus where every house had two red maple in the front yard. Although Red maple is a native tree to Ohio, this subdivision was planted with a cultivated variety of the species called ‘Red Sunset.’ ‘Red Sunset’ red maple was selected and well marketed for its compact habit, good branching structure and most notably for its showy and reliable orange to red fall color.
Unfortunately for most of us in the central Ohio area, ‘Red Sunset’ Red maple was selected in Oregon and requires an acid soil with consistent moisture to perform well. It does not like the dry and often high pH soils of our urban landscapes.
The trees I observed on the East side of town had just been planted in the last 12-15 years, were in poor health & vigor and were already expressing advanced symptoms of chlorosis, a nutrition deficiency that causes yellowing, stunted growth, decline and eventual plant death.
Chlorosis in a Red Maple
I learned about chlorosis in different Red maple cultivars (short for cultivated varieties) when I was a horticulture student at OSU and I still deal with it daily in my career as an arborist. I see chlorotic Red maple in parks, commercial buildings, along streets and in private gardens every day. I even see chlorotic red maple in the aisles of reputable nurseries.
How has this tree become so popular? I believe it’s because it has been so well marketed. Maple has name recognition amongst most folks and the nursery industry loves red maple because it is easy to propagate, and they can produce a sellable tree from small whip in a short amount of time.
When I have the opportunity to ask clients why they selected this tree for their landscape I generally get one the following responses.
Somewhat common: Name recognition, they admit they don’t know much about trees, but they remember maple being a good tree from their childhood.
More common: Their landscaper recommended it (interesting side note: I have yet to hear from anyone that their arborist recommended it).
Most common: They were looking for something with nice fall color.
I’m a sucker for some nice fall color also and I’m here to report there are a lot of other great alternatives to red maple when looking for trees with nice fall foliage. The following are some of my favorite fall color trees that are adaptable, urban tolerant, and easy to grow.
Valley Forge American Elm
Great fast-growing historic shade tree adaptable to most soil types – reliable yellow to gold fall color.
Japanese Zelkova
Another urban tolerant medium to fast growing shade tree with nice vase shaped canopy with yellow to apricot to red fall color.
Black Tupelo
Excellent tree for glossy red fall color. Some cultivars will color yellow and red. Slow growing medium sized tree.
Hickory
This image is of a Pignut hickory but most species of hickory color beautifully in the fall. Slow growing tree. Plant this one for the next generation. Great tree for wildlife.
Sassafrass
Medium sized fast-growing tree in youth. Great yellow to orange to red to purple fall color – can be variable from year to year. One of Ohio’s most outstanding native trees for fall foliage.
Witch Hazel
There are dozens of cultivars of witch-hazel. Most of them have showy fall color. This image is the fall foliage of ‘Diane’ witch-hazel, one of my favorites. Also has showy red flowers in late winter.
Kousa dogwood
Great ornamental tree with exceptional yellow to red fall color. Also has great flowering show, beautiful bark at maturity and interesting fruit.
Ginkgo
Unrivaled for golden yellow fall color. My only complaint is that the show is short lived, often only 2 – 3 days.
Dawn Redwood
Foliage turns an excellent copper orange to brown before leaf drop. Fast growing, significant pest and disease-free shade tree.
Japanese Katsura
Medium to fast growing shade tree. Fall color can be apricot to scarlet red. Fall leaves smell like cotton candy.
TJ Nagel | Production Manager, Russell Tree Experts
ISA Certified Arborist® OH-6298A // Graduated from The Ohio State University in 2012, Earned B.S. in Agriculture with a major in Landscape Horticulture and minor in Entomology // Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ) // Russell Tree Experts Arborist Since 2010
[images courtesy of various providers]
Blooming in the fall?!
One of my favorite things about the fall season are the flowers of our native Witchhazel. If you look carefully you may still be fortunate enough to see them. On the cold grey days of fall, when other plants have lost their color, our native Witchhazel bursts into a show of yellow flowers brightening up the landscape around them.
Blooming in the fall?!
An Often Overlooked Fall Color
One of my favorite things about the fall season are the flowers of our native Witchhazel. If you look carefully you may still be fortunate enough to see them. On the cold grey days of fall, when other plants have lost their color, our native Witchhazel bursts into a show of yellow flowers brightening up the landscape around them.
Common Witchhazel, Hamamelis virginiana, is a native small wide spreading tree (or large shrub) native to central Ohio and much of the midwest and eastern United States. It grows naturally on dry woodland slopes, in moist woods and along the banks of streams. It has a high tolerance to shade and clay soils making it a useful plant for the urban landscape. Witchhazel can be used as a focal point, shrub border, or for the wildlife garden as it provides food for birds, honeybees and the spring azure butterfly (the juvenile form feeds on the foliage).
Witchhazel will often go unnoticed by most folks until mid October when it produces its fragrant yellow strap like flowers. The flowers will normally last 4 - 6 weeks fading by December. This week, I’ve observed Witchhazel still in peak flower in client’s yards and in parks and woods around central Ohio. There is nice stand at Jeffrey Park in Bexley just North of the tennis courts I recommend checking out.
If you’ve been looking for a small tree to add to your property - consider the Common Witchhazel.
Side note: Vernal Witchhazel, Hamamelis vernalis is a native Witch Hazel of Southern Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana that flowers late winter/early spring. The nursery industry has made this plant commercially available as well as two Asian species, Hamamelis japonica and Hamamelis mollis. There are also dozens of cultivated varieties and hybrids of these species so you or someone you know may have Witchhazel that flowers at a different time or in a different color.
TJ Nagel | Regional Manager, Russell Tree Experts
ISA Certified Arborist® OH-6298A // Graduated from The Ohio State University in 2012, Earned B.S. in Agriculture with a major in Landscape Horticulture and minor in Entomology // Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ) // Russell Tree Experts Arborist Since 2010
Witch-Hazel Cone Gall
I find insects that cause galls to be really interesting. There are many different types, usually host-specific, with various shapes and sizes of galls formed. In most instances, the feeding of the insect causes an abnormal growth reaction in the plant that forms this gall where either the adult or the immature insect lives inside.
The photo below is of Witch-hazel cone gall, caused by an aphid bearing the same name. I find insects that cause galls to be really interesting. There are many different types, usually host-specific, with various shapes and sizes of galls formed. In most instances, the feeding of the insect causes an abnormal growth reaction in the plant that forms this gall where either the adult or the immature insect lives inside. In this case, a single aphid will feed on the leaf in spring, causing the gall to form. While inside the gall, the female aphid will produce young that eventually emerge in two forms, with two destinies: A wingless form stays on the host plant; the winged form goes to live on Birch trees. In autumn a second winged generation develops and flies back to the witch-hazel where eggs are laid on the twigs to start the process again the following spring.
Cone Gulls in a Witch-Hazel Tree
When we see galls on leaves and twigs, do we stop to think about the lives of these insects, and the plants that support them? This world we share is much larger than we realize – it gets bigger the more we look up, or down, and we’re all in this together.
Your friendly neighborhood arborist,
José Fernández
ISA BCMA® OH-5129B
Insect notes summarized from Insects That Feed on Trees and Shrubs, by Warren T. Johnson and Howard H. Lyon, second edition.