Best trees for fall color: Turn your landscape into a work of art

Fall is marked by the slow, beautiful change of green foliage to vibrant colors.  As the temperatures drop and the days grow shorter, leaves stop making chlorophyll, a pigment responsible for the lovely green hues. Then as trees shut down, their orange or yellow pigments begin to show. Different trees show different colors and suddenly before you know it, the landscape is a multi-colored work of art before the leaves finally fall away. 

Growing up, I would hear people talk about fall being their favorite time of year.  At that time in my life, summer was my favorite because of all the water sports one enjoys then, plus no school.  As I have grown older and hopefully wiser, I have come to love fall. There is a chill in the air and low humidity, trees start to turn magnificent colors like buttery-yellow, amber-orange, or a scarlet-red. The landscape becomes a kaleidoscope of color. No other time of the year will you see trees in such an array of color.  With fall putting on a festival of color, yes, it is a glorious time of year.       

There are many trees I have growing in our garden that I cherish for their fall color.  Sourwood, black gum, sweetgum, hickory, sassafras and dogwood are some of the trees that were growing in the woods before I opened up a wooded area to make a garden. 

Since then, I have added to these natives gingkos, Japanese maples, sugar maples, redbud, pistachio, pagoda and other trees that have a rainbow of colors that make the landscape glow in the autumn.  Today, there are trees that have outstanding fall color that grow in warmer climates so it is not just the North that has these brilliant colors.  The South might not have as many maples growing naturally in the forest but we do have a large choice of trees and shrubs that can be planted to present brilliant colors in the fall.   

Hickories are a native tree that grows profusely and turns a rich, golden yellow.  The trees are tall and the leaves large which makes it stand out at the edge of open fields.  Beeches and Southern sugar maples are also native trees with different shades of yellow, making the landscape golden at times.  Our native dogwoods, red oaks, sweetgums and black gums add red to the mix and make the countryside come alive with color. 

Other trees that brighten up the woods are sourwood and red and sugar maple trees.  Sourwoods have flowers that look like lily of the valley flowers in the late summer and then in the fall, the leaves turn intense shades of crimson, purplish-red or pinkish-red.  The tree can be a specimen in the garden or used at the edge of the woods.  Maples are especially vibrant with red and golden-yellow and combinations of both that make a memorable sight.    

The native dogwood tree, with red leaves and berries, shows off colors over a longer period of time than most any other tree I have observed.  They seem to start turning in September and do not drop their leaves until sometime in November.  Then the red berries that remain are showy and offer food for birds and squirrels.    

There are non-native trees that also have dramatic colors.  The ginkgo tree is probably the most distinct deciduous tree that is grown today. It is a living fossil, with the earliest leaf fossils dating back to 270 million years ago.  It is also a good tree for cities because it will take environmental stress, being able to endure conditions unfavorable to the growth of other varieties of trees. The unique fan-shaped leave that turn a stunning yellow, radiate as the sun shines on these towering trees.  The gingko is also distinct because all the leaves fall at once rather than dropping from top to bottom as most trees do. Gingkos are one of the most spectacular trees we grow.    

Of course, I have to mention Japanese maples.  After much breeding work, there are at least a thousand different varieties of Japanese maples.  These trees are prized for their delicate and colorful foliage throughout the growing season, coming to a spectacular show in the fall.  They range in heights from about 4 to 30 feet depending on the cultivar so there is one for just about any garden.  I started collecting different ones about 15 years ago.  Most were mail order and were really very small.  In fact, they were so small, it was hard to plant them as far apart as they should have been planted so some had to be moved when they started getting some size.  Today, some are quite large and are the focal point in different areas. 

Two new shrubs I have discovered in recent years that are at their best in the fall are Lindera and Enkianthus.  Lindera, with its finger like leaves, turns a lovely deep, golden-yellow in the fall and Enkianthus turns a brilliant red.  My Enkianthus are quite small and will get to be a small tree over time.   

In the past few years, I started working harder to make my garden as spectacular in the fall as it is in the spring.  It will take a few more years but time goes by quickly the older I get.  If I continue to plant more trees and shrubs, focusing on fall color, I feel sure I will accomplish this in no time.  Maples, dogwoods and many other trees, will make a show for many, many years to come, long after I am gone.     

Betty Montgomery is a master gardener and author of “Hydrangeas: How To Grow, Cultivate & Enjoy,” and “A Four-Season Southern Garden.” She can be reached at bmontgomery40@gmail.com.