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Guest Column

Florida's fall foliage: a rainbow of colors

By JANE WEBER
Published October 10, 2006

Autumn conjures images of trees turning color and piles of shed leaves. Florida has distinct seasons, and some of our native trees are deciduous and provide ample fall color. As days become shorter and temperatures cooler, trees that need a winter rest start to close off sap to their leaves. The sugars are trapped in the foliage as the leaves die and stop being green and then show up as colors specific to the individual tree species.

Turkey oak, Quercus laevis, turns coppery come October. River birch, Betula nigra, along the river banks and in irrigated gardens, becomes golden yellow. The tall spreading sycamore, Platanus occidentalis, starts to shed its 10-inch-wide leaves in September.

Mounds of light brown, paper-thin leaves soon blow up against any barrier. Kids love to play in the drifts and piles. No raking is necessary in my yard: I shred them into mulch with the lawn mower.

For deep burgundy fall leaves, sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua or flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, are excellent choices.

Nothing beats the scarlet, orange-red or yellow of a red maple, Acer rubrum! This spectacular, single-trunked, native tree has color throughout the year. In January the silvery gray bark of young trees and smaller limbs contrast with the roughened, furrowed bark of older trees. Form and structure are architecturally pleasing.

By mid January mature red maples are covered in profuse clusters of tiny, bright burgundy-red flowers with pollen for insects. By late February it is crowned with deep burgundy, two-winged, V-shaped fruit (samaras) 1½ to 2½ inches long.

As these seeds ripen, they pale to pink and rain down like confetti as birds dine on the nutritious seed. The tree on the south side of my porch had only a handful of seedlings sprout this past spring. I presume the wildlife ate the rest.

New leaves unfurl in March. Each is tinged in burgundy-red, which fades into medium green as the leaf grows 2 to 6 inches long and 2 to 4 inches wide. Leaf stalks and central veins are red. Simple, palmate leaves are arranged opposite along the stem. They have five lobes with toothed margins. The underside has a dense cover of white hairs.

Red maples can live 50 to 80 years, which is considered relatively short-lived by tree standards. They range from Zone 3 to 10 throughout eastern North America from Newfoundland and Ontario, south to Florida and west to Oklahoma and Texas.

They prefer moist to wet soils but perform well in an irrigated garden. The one that shades my porch from the hot summer sun gets its extra water from a slotted 4-foot corrugated leach pipe attached to the gutter down spout.

Extra stormwater runoff is dispersed in the planting bed under the eves along the entire length of the porch. In 10 years, the knee-high sapling quickly grew tall enough to provide ample shade.

Several cultivars are available in the nursery trade but locally do not have the abundance of flowers or seed of the pure native species. Florida flame has great fall color and a root system less prone to leaf spotting in the summer. Gulf ember also has good fall foliage, is a vigorous grower and bored resistant claim breeders.

Fireburst has larger leaves and reliable fall color. All are a little more expensive: A 12-foot-tall tree in a No. 15 pot may cost $70 to $80 at a big box nursery outlet. Unadulterated red maples in 10-inch-wide pots cost about $1 a foot in smaller nurseries.

Fall and cooler weather has arrived. Along the highways and in the forest you can enjoy the parade of color as the leaves change.

Editor's note: This weekly article is provided by Jane Weber, professional gardener, grower, consultant, designer and environmentalist. Visit her Certified Florida Yard and Backyard Wildlife Habitat, 5019 W Stargazer Lane, Dunnellon. Call (352) 465-0649.

[Last modified October 10, 2006, 01:01:30]