By Marco T. Fonseca

University of Georgia

As temperatures begin to drop in the fall, the life-giving green
chlorophyll in the tree leaves fades away, unmasking a rainbow of
colors to splash the countryside with yellows, oranges, reds and
purples.

When those leaves fall and the canopy rests in the winter, the
activity in the dark, colorless world beneath the soil doesn’t
stop. The roots explore, colonize and mine new soil, recycling
organic compounds from the now-fallen leaves to provide nutrients
to the trees.

Such is the colorful cycle of life, never ending, always
changing. The colorful senescence of fall and drab dormancy of
winter always leads to the rebirth of spring flowers.

When I lived in New England, though, I always felt that fall was
the best season. My soul was humbled by nature’s display of fall
color.

But you don’t have to travel to New England to enjoy the fall
colors. Just a few hours’ drive north of Atlanta from mid-September
to late October, the trees on the north Georgia hills
display radiant colors.

Better yet, since fall is the best time to plant trees, why not
establish your own backyard fall color?

Red buds, sweet shrubs and fire bushes can frame any home
landscape with fiery reds, along with the majestic scarlet and
crimson red oaks and blood-red black gums. Golden hornbeam and
beech provide yellows.

Here are a few quality landscape trees Extension Service
horticulturists have recommended over the years:

Sourwood is seldom planted in yards but is an
excellent tree with
brilliant, deep red fall leaves.

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is well
known for its brilliant
yellow, orange and scarlet fall colors.

Chinese pistache provides bright orange and
red fall colors. It
thrives in the lower coastal plain of Georgia where few other
trees have great fall color.

Ginkgo is sometimes called maidenhair tree.
No tree can match the
luminous yellow color of its fan-shaped leaves.

Japanese maple is one of the most spectacular
small trees you can
grow in Georgia. It grows slowly but provides good fall color.

Red maple produces bright red to yellow
colors. Maples offer the
greatest potential for fall colors in Georgia yards.

Scarlet oak is usually the last tree in
Georgia to develop its
brilliant red fall color.

To learn more about planting colorful shade trees, see the UGA
publication, “Fast Growing Shade Trees”
(www.ces.uga.edu/pubcd/L350.htm). Or call your UGA Extension
Service county office.