Fall Color: Liquidambar or Sweet GumFall Color Trees

fall-color-liquidambar-Anne-of-Green-GardensLiquidambar or Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is my top pick for fall color in the category of tall trees. It’s definitely a show-stopper!

When I was a kid, our house had two large Liquidambar trees in our front yard. I loved watching the green leaves change color each year. In mild winter years the leaves turned golden with hints of orange, in colder years the leaves turned red and purple.

Liquidambar Features

One unpopular feature about sweet gum are the seed pods, also called “sticker balls,” “burr balls,” and “monkey balls.” Although striking looking while hanging on the tree, as a kid they made jumping in raked leaf piles painful. Luckily, a variety called L. styraciflua ‘rotundiloba’ is available. It has rounded leaves, produces the same fall color but lacks the “balls” of the original variety.

Sweet Gum Varieties

fall-color-liquidambar-Anne-of-Green-Gardens

Fall color in neighborhood.

If you don’t mind the seed pods, there are several varieties of sweet gum to choose from. Visit your local nursery or garden center and ask a certified nursery person about them. Interestingly, some varieties are more likely to turn purplish colors in fall while others have orange and yellow hues. ‘Palo Alto’ is a great variety to grow in California.

In California, not many pests and diseases bother Liquidambar, making it a low-maintenance tree. It does however, need to be trained and pruned while young. Read Landscape Gardening: Tree Training and Pruning https://www.anneofgreengardens.com/gardening-topics/landscape-gardening/tree-training-and-tree-pruning/ if you decide to plant one.

Liquidambar is not for every landscape, however. Most varieties grow to over 50 feet tall. This tree should not be planted close to buildings, sidewalks or power lines and needs considerable space to grow.

If you have a yard with adequate space for a tall, statuesque tree, definitely consider the liquidambar.

USDA Zones: 6-10
Height: 60′
Width: 25′
Sun/Shade: Full Sun
Water Requirements: Moderate to Regular Water
Plant Spacing: 40-50′

Originally Published:December 13, 2010
Updated:September 29, 2016

Comments

comments

2 Comments

  1. I know this is an old article, but I came across it while searching for information on sweetgum. I just wanted to note the very fist picture with the dark red colored fall leaves is not sweetgum but a species of maple. It looks like it could be the ‘Autumn Blaze’ hybrid maple or a similar species/cultivar.

    • Thank you Evan! I just started writing for my blog again. You are correct, that was not the right photo. I’ve replaced it. I appreciate that you took the time to comment so I could correct it!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

*