Who doesn’t love fall in New England. The perfect weather, great farm produce, and gorgeous fall color! While most people know and love the Maple family for color, there are so many other great trees that can make a perfect addition to your landscape. Here are 5 that I love:
Sweetgum (Liquidamber styraciflua) may look like a maple at first glance, but the foliage has much more color variation, from deep purple, to fiery red, to bright yellow. The other tell tale sign of a Sweetgum is its spiky, spherical fruit.
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| Sweetgum foliage |
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| Super interesting fruit |
Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) is a really cool tree. Its foliage turns fire engine red, but most interesting are its long seed pods.
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| Oxydendrum arboreum – Sourwood |
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| Cornus florida – Florida Dogwood, with its beautiful foliage |
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| Heptacodium flowers |
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| The flowers really cover the tree and in bright light look red! |
And, don’t forget conifers for fall color. The blue and yellow tones of common conifers offer great contrast to the orange and red of deciduous foliage. Spruce, Larch, Chamaecyparis, and this Gold Rush Dawn Redwood below all offer great, and unexpected interest.
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| Goldrush Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostorboides ‘Goldrush’) |
So, when planning for fall color in your garden, think beyond the maple and consider some lesser known deciduous trees for their foliage, fruit, flowers and even needles!
