Autumn Arboreal Awards: The Best-Dressed Trees in Fall
It’s that time of year again: the air is getting cooler, kids are picking out their Halloween costumes, and pumpkin spice has taken over from here to Seattle to Savannah. Just around the corner is the year’s best fireworks show: the changing of the leaves.
In response to cooler nights and crisper days, fall leaves begin to lose their chlorophyll – the compound that makes them green – leaving them bright, beautiful shades of orange and yellow. In some cases, red anthocyanin pigments also form.
The takeaway is that nature’s chemistry gives our eyes a treat. Now the question becomes: which trees are the best, and which should you consider for your own yard? Here are five of the top choices for fall color.
- Black Tupelo
The black tupelo is the answer to your desire to see all of the fall colors on one tree. Its leaves turn stunning variegated shades of red, orange, yellow, purple and scarlet, all on one branch – and sometimes in one leaf!
- Sugar Maple
Not only does this blessed tree give us the world’s best pancake topping, it’s also a show-stopping autumn beauty. In the earliest days of fall, it fades from green to yellow, then to orange, and then to fiery red before dropping its leaves altogether.
- Aspen
If you love yellow, aspen is here for you. Unlike some other trees, which display mottled leaves of various shades, the aspen is devoted to one color: yellow, yellow, and more yellow. Group these trees together for an extra-special color statement.
- Baldcypress
Typically, you don’t think of conifers as having fall color, because they’re not deciduous. The bald cypress, though, is an exception, losing its needles every fall in a brilliant orange show.
- Sweetgum
The sweetgum is notable not only for its lovely combination of yellow, red and purple leaves but for the fact that those leaves hang on for quite a while after other species go dormant.
Call Premier Tree Solutions if you’re ready to get a little of that fall color into your life and need help with cleaning up your property for fall. We are a tree care and removal business, based in Atlanta, and provide a variety of services, from trimming and pruning to storm cleanup, branch clearing, and stump removal. Keep your landscape and your trees healthy and happy by calling Premier Tree Solutions today!
