The fall color express train continues chugging down the track as summer gives way to autumn. In last week’s blog, we invited you to Hop aboard the fall color express and featured trees that are among the first to turn to bright shades of red, yellow and orange. This week, we’ve added some more cars to the train, giving you more options and ideas for bringing fall color to your gardens and your communities.
Now’s a great time to choose the best and brightest trees offered by your favorite garden center. Happy planting!
Autumn Brilliance® Serviceberry
Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’
Branches billow with fluffy, snow-white flowers when this naturally occurring hybrid of two native species bursts into bloom. These are followed closely by dark green summer foliage that glows bright red orange in the fall. Purplish-blue fruits are tasty and can be made into jams and syrups – if they can be harvested before the birds gobble them down!
Introduced in 1986, this popular hybrid of A. arborea and A. laevis is broadly adaptable to varied soils and growing conditions. Hardy through Zone 4.
Prairie Sentinel® Hackberry
Celtis occidentalis ‘JFS-KSU1’
When autumn arrives, the dark green leathery leaves of this prairie native turn to bright yellow. A perfect fit for narrow streets in the toughest climates, this tightly fastigiate columnar tree reaches a height of 45’ and spread of only 12’. The parent tree is a narrow spire that towers over the rocky, barren plateau where it was discovered on the rugged high plains of western Kansas. This joint introduction of Kansas State University and JFS offers USDA Zone 4 hardiness. In addition to its uniquely narrow form, it offers great adaptability to the heat, drought and cold of the prairie climate.
Flashfire® Maple
Acer saccharum ‘JFS-Caddo2’
Named for its brilliant orange-red fall color, Flashfire® is our top pick among trees grown from seed collected from an isolated population of sugar maples located in Caddo County, Oklahoma. This strain of heat-adapted sugar maples has evolved in rocky, arid, limestone soils of western Oklahoma, heritage that makes it a good fit for difficult urban planting sites. Flashfire® Maple is well adapted to hot and dry weather, but still has good cold hardiness. Fall color develops at a younger age than most sugar maples and is a reliable, brilliant red.
The Caddo maple population is also the source of the ‘John Pair’ and ‘Autumn Splendor’ cultivars selected by the late Dr. John Pair of Kansas State University. The John C. Pair Horticultural Center of Kansas State University is named in his honor.
Why do leaves change color?
If you’re wondering why trees change color in autumn, check out the Science of Fall Colors, according to the U. S Forest Service. You’ll also find a wealth of information about fall color, including interactive maps and peak color predictions that you can explore by state at Explore Fall.com
Powder Keg® Maple
Acer saccharum ‘Whit XLIX’ PP 23957
Originating from a tree that was grown from seed collected in the Caddo Mountains of Western Oklahoma, this cultivar offers spectacular fall color, stout branching and upright form. Selected and introduced by Dr. Carl Whitcomb, its leathery dark green leaves are heat and drought tolerant and resist leaf tatter. The best of hundreds of seedlings grown from seed of an outstanding tree in Stillwater, it thrives on the Oklahoma prairie and is proving to be a top performer in varied landscape settings across the continent. (Zone 5, 50’ x 40’)
Redpointe® Maple
Acer rubrum ‘Frank Jr.’ PP 16769
A superior selection of the widely planted native species, Redpointe® Maple is distinctive for its rich, dark green, heat-tolerant summer foliage that turns to brilliant red in autumn. Its upright, broadly pyramidal form and adaptability to urban growing conditions make it a natural choice for street tree plantings and cityscapes.
Ease of care in the nursery and in the landscape, plus tolerance of heat, cold, drought and varied soils (including those of higher pH levels) have helped it become our best-selling tree since its introduction in 2006. Height and spread are approximately 45’ x 30’ after 30 years in an average urban landscape setting.
Presidential Gold® Ginkgo
Ginkgo biloba ‘The President’
Outstanding in the nursery row and then in the landscape, this robust selection has great sales appeal in the garden center. Thanks to its strong central leader and full branching at a young age, it is impressive even as a young tree. As it matures, it develops a dense upright crown and a broadly pyramidal to oval shape. Fall color of this seedless male selected by Dr. Michael Dirr is bright yellow in the fall.
Typical of the species, it thrives in city growing conditions. In general, ginkgoes are tolerant of compacted soils (acid or alkaline) and aren’t bothered much by air pollution, heat or cold, diseases or pests. An added bonus is resistance to the browsing of deer, according to the Chicago Botanic Garden Plant Finder.
Gardeners! Please note that our nursery is strictly wholesale. To purchase these and other trees grown by our nursery, please use our Retailer Locator to find sources of JFS trees near you.
