By Stephanie Schupska and Jim
Midcap
University of Georgia
When Jim Midcap moved to Georgia 18 years ago, he decided to go
native — in his yard, anyway. Now, every fall, he’s reaping
the benefit in gold, orange, red and yellow.
Midcap, a Cooperative Extension horticulturist with the
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, encourages others to add color to their yards with
more than just flowers.
“In the fall,” he said, “we get a nice range of colors in
native trees – red and orange in the red maple and in the sugar
maple, golds and oranges.”
Another of his favorites, the ginkgo, turns a “brilliant
yellow” and then overnight drops all its leaves. Before the
foliage turns brown, “you have a nice, golden lawn
underneath.”
No one knows exactly when trees will lose their green.
“Everyone likes to predict when we’ll have good fall color,”
Midcap said. “It depends on temperature and moisture levels and
the health of the tree. If we get proper temperatures this
fall, we have a good possibility of having outstanding fall
color.”
Midcap’s first Georgia plantings of red maples, redbuds,
dogwoods, silver bells and hollies have “almost become a jungle
now,” he said.
Here are his suggestions for making a yard pop with color with
native and introduced trees:
Red maple is a swamp native reaching 40-60 feet. Young
trees
are pyramidal, becoming rounded to irregular at maturity.
Bright red fruit follow reddish spring flowers. The bark is
smooth and gray. Fall leaves develop into glorious yellows and
reds. “October Glory” and “Autumn Blaze” offer reliable
color.
American yellowwood is an uncommon native
tree not widely sold. Trees are low-branching with broad,
rounded crowns. Spectacular white spring flowers may bloom only
in alternate years. In fall, the foliage turns butter-yellow.
The larger branches and trunk are smooth and gray. Hardy
statewide, it grows 30-50 feet tall.
Sourwood is one of the best native trees
for fall color. It’s delicately pyramidal, with drooping
branches. Young leaves mature to a lustrous, dark green and
turn red to maroon in the fall. The white flowers come in 4- to
10-inch clusters in June and July. Sourwood is great for
naturalizing native sites in sun or partial shade. It reaches
25-35 feet and does best in north Georgia.
Persian parrotia is a rather rare, small
tree. The pest-free summer foliage changes to purple, orange
and yellow in fall. The bark exfoliates, revealing dark and
light patches on twisting, multiple trunks. Small, maroon
flowers appear in late winter. Mature trees are often wider
than they are tall. They do better in north Georgia on well-
drained soils.
Chinese pistache is a handsome, tough tree
that’s oval and rounded. Its pest-free leaves are lustrous,
dark green with small leaflets, changing to rich orange-red in
fall. The bark is gray, with exfoliating flakes. Pistache is a
medium shade tree, reaching 30-40 feet. It’s hardy statewide,
even through drought and infertile soils.
Elegant katsura is pyramidal early on and
becomes upright and oval with age. The leaves mature to blue-
green, then turn a rich yellow to apricot in fall and smell
spicy when they drop. It has brown, shaggy bark. With no
serious insect or disease problems, it has to be watered during
droughts to prevent early leaf drop. It grows 40-60 feet tall
and is hardy statewide.
Ginkgo is so old its unique, fan-shaped
leaves have been found in fossils. Young plants establish
slowly. It becomes a beautiful, mature specimen when the green
leaves turn a brilliant, clear yellow in the fall. Male trees
are best. Females produce fruits that smell rancid as they
mature.
“Fall is the best time to plant trees,” Midcap said. “New
plants develop strong roots in the cooler, moist fall soils.”
(Stephanie Schupska is a news editor and Jim Midcap is a
Cooperative Extension horticulturist with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
