
Squirrel enjoying fall color. [H. Guenther]
Plant Trees in Fall!
Now is a great time to plant trees and shrubs that produce gorgeous fall colors. My website has been updated to contain information on how to plant trees, visit Landscape Gardening: Planting a Tree. There you’ll learn that most trees don’t need staking, unless you plant them in a very windy area (for windy areas, stake trees for one year). If a tree can’t make it without a stake when it’s young, chances are it won’t support itself later in life.
Recommended Trees
Here are some of my favorite trees and shrubs. Remember, even though a color is listed, the plant may not always turn that color every year. It all depends on the temperature. Underlined plants have links to more details written earlier in a blog dedicated to that plant. In the future I plan to write about each kind of tree. Please feel free to leave a comment if there is one you are particularly interested in, and I’ll try and get to it next.
SMALL TREES (to 30′ high)
- Birch (Betula species) gold
- Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) red, purple, orange, gold
- Japanese Maple (Acer japonicum) red, purple, orange, gold
- Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis) red, purple, orange, gold
- Washington Thorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum) red, purple, orange, gold
- Western Redbud (Cercis occidentalis) gold
MEDIUM TREES 30-60′
- Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) gold
- Liquidambar or Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) red, purple, orange, gold
- Chinese Flame Tree (Koelreuteria bipinnata) gold, with orange & red seed pods
- Flowering Pear (Pyrus species)
- Ash (Fraxinus species)
- Red Maple (Acer rubrum) ‘Autumn Fantasy,’ ‘October Glory,’ ‘Autumn Blaze’ etc. red, purple, orange, gold
LARGE TREES 60’+
- London Plane Tree (Platanus x acerifolia) gold
- Sycamore (Platanus racemosa) gold
- Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) gold
- Oak (Quercus species) Red Oak-red, purple, orange, gold. Valley Oak-mostly gold
- Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina domestica) red, purple, orange, gold
- Photinia (Photinia villosa) red, purple
- Pomegranate (Punica granatum) gold
- Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster) red, purple, orange, gold
- Hydrangea (Hydrangea species) gold
- Grape (Uva species) gold
- Virgina Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) red, purple, orange gold
- Wisteria (Wisteria species) gold
Plants highlighted in green are California Natives.
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