Drove some the other day. Actually it was only slightly past peak of the general oak/hickory forest & still impressive. Lots of reds, oranges, orange-yellows, yellows and yellow-browns on the slopes and valleys.

Perhaps holding on to color alittle later than usual here -- first freezing spell came & went & now having some nice mild weather.

Some of the trees that have been turned a while dropped most leaves last night with the wind. Several of the sugar maples in my neighborhood, that were just past peak, but still looked good as recently as yesterday morning, are nearly bare today.

***
Posted by arktrees 6b NW Arkansas (My Page) on
Mon, Oct 21, 13 at 16:28

Black Walnut was as yellow as you have ever seen last year (didn't know they could do that until last year), this year defoliated.
***

Seen this too (2002?) -- a rare yr when B walnuts hold their leaves & turn a gorgeous yellow. IIRC a dry second half of the summer is needed to prevent the late-summer anthracnose that usually defoliates it.

Yup - we had a dry late summer. A lot of the walnuts were defoliated by some webworm caterpillar, but the ones that weren't are a nice yellow.

The place I work has about 20 or so Acer Rubrums and they all look like they are on fire. Absolutely gorgeous right now. You can almost look out the window and watch them change. Earlier this week on Monday they barely had any color.

A couple lookers I saw while driving around at lunch today. Saw a humongous pistache that looked like a painting but traffic wouldn't allow a pic...

Sugar maple - saw some even prettier but couldn't get pics

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Sweetgum

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Forgot one I took at home a couple days ago...

Gorgeous sweetgum. I hate that it appears to have been 'topped' though. Granted, it could be storm damage, I've seen the leaders snap off in storms halfway down the trunk.

That sugar maple looks like a marketing photo from a nursery - amazing!

Our Sugars are mostly past peak here, but a few holdouts are just now turning nicely. The ones I presume to be seedling trees turn last, the cultivars (at least the most common, Legacy, Green Mountain especially) are generally mostly a bit earlier.

Autumn Blaze Maple

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My October Glory Red Maple went from total green to this in 7 days.

It is near peak color here now. Not so good in recent years though--freak snows, drought, too warm, monsoon rains, hurricanes, etc.. Here is my Dawn Red earlier.

It seems the later a tree starts to turn, the faster it happens when it does.

Some of the earlier ones take MONTHS to fully change over, while the later arrivals take under a week.

A few pics for your viewing pleasure, taken in Howard County, MD Nov 2 & 3 unless indicated otherwise:

First, some Sugar Maples:

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Some Red Maples:

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A nice laceleaf Acer palmatum of some sort:

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Some Oaks (mostly Q. alba):

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(couple Hickories and Tuliptrees in this one too)

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(Love this one - I think it's a Q. rubra sapling)

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Sweetgums:

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Crapemyrtle:

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Some more at my Photobucket page. Click on any pic & you can scroll the whole album.

There are some nice Scarlet oaks around, but I couldn't get a decent picture today or yesterday, either due to lighting or that I'd have had to park the car and stroll onto private property to get a good picture.

Ginkgos:

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hair, nice pics. The "Q rubra sapling" looks like scarlet oak. Not sure Q rubra ever gets that scarlet-red -- more pure red at most.

Thanks, beng.

I'm pretty sure it's rubra, or maybe velutina, despite the color. The leaves are larger & don't have the deep lobes of Q. coccinea.

To be fair, I didn't get out of the car, this stand of trees was in the back of an industrial park, and I was able to drive all the way back, open the window, and snap the pic. However, the leaves were shaped like "textbook" Northern Red Oak.

I did see some nice, deep scarlet LARGE scarlet oaks, but none I could get a good picture of. There are even more I see on my drive to work, as well as some better White Oak specimens, but again, I'm driving on the highway, and can't really get pics in the morning on the way to work, as I never have the extra time to take detours or stop...and with the end of DST, it's now going to be too dark when I drive home.

Here's a White Oak I saw today at lunch - hacked by the power company, but still nice - not the reddest I've seen by far, but the best close-up I could get:

Let's try that again:

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Hickory

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Better one of the Ginkgos
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White Oak - love the rootflare on this tree!

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Baldcypress

I like the maples that show variation in their color. A little more interesting than one shade.
This one is a selected seedling of mine.
Mike

Mike, you need a blog. Seriously. =)

And why the name change?

The name change is a result of me being hacked. Caused me all sorts of problems. I'm in favor of the death penalty for hackers.;-)

A blog sounds good. I will look into it.
I used to have my pictures on Webshots, but since they shot themselves in the foot I've been trying to find the time to get on another picture hosting site.
I'm retired and busier than ever. Time management is not one of my skills. I figure I have the time to do it all, and at the end of the day, all I've done is a lot of little things without the main goal being accomplished. Well, there's always tomorrow.
Mike.....

All, thanks for taking the time to post some pics. There are plenty of beauties there.

I might post some but its be a combination of not getting pics in time or just general poor fall color, mainly due to a string of low 20s a couple weeks back.

That deep scarlet little oak may indeed be a Quercus coccinea, Scarlet Oak - I've looked at more online pictures, and there seems to be enough variation in leaf morphology among the species that it could fit. I always presume Scarlet Oak leaves to look like slightly larger Pin Oak leaves with slightly different sinuses, but some pics online look intermediate between Pin and Northern Red oak, so this tree could, indeed, be a Scarlet. Maybe I'll try this week to go again and get some closeup leaf pics.

Theoretically, since Q. rubra does hybridize with Q. coccinea, it would be possible it could be a natural hybrid, too.

Don't forget Nyssa! Dependable every single year...
hortster

Gorgeous!

Our Nyssas for the most part have defoliated.

I wish I had one.
What conditions do they like?
I may hafta order one.
Mike.

Mike,
Blackgum Nyssa sylvatica (the species seen most often) is a very adaptable tree. It is very common in the Ozark Plateau where I live. It grows wild on fairly wet sites (i.e.next to but not in a stream or pond etc), but it also grows on fairly dry upland sites as well. Dry tolerance is probable due to the production of a tap root. Might need a couple deep waterings in your dry summer climate, over a high water table, or plant near consistent water. Doesn't have serious pest of insect problems, but can get leaf spot late in the year. The cultivar Red Rage is denser green and has much less leaf spot. Red color is enhanced by more sun, but the tree is happy with partial sun. Our seed grown tree grows approx 18"/year in poor soil. Oh and they are later to leaf out in spring. Moderate sized at full maturity. Typically ~40' locally. Some smaller, some larger.

Arktrees

Thank you Ark. The information is much appreciated.
Mike

Mike are you sure you didn't plant one and forget about it? You have everything in that retreat of yours!

Nyssa must really dislike neutral sandy soils. I've actually had better luck with Japanese Maples.

Naw, I've never even seen one for sale around here. I don't haunt the nurseries like I used to though. bboy or GardenGirl might have some info as far as local availability.
I do have a couple of Oxydendrum arboreums though. One grew big and busted off at the stump from ice and the other never has done well. Time for it to move....again. I see them around once in awhile, but not very often.
Mike

Mike,
Got to recommend you give Blackgum a try. Not hard to come by online, and our native Blackgum at peak color are absolutely amazingly bright red. We also have native as well as cultivated Sugar Maples (they are every bit as colorful here as the Northest, just not as many), and the Blackgums are every bit a match.

Arktrees

Also, blackgums have a very long fall show that can last for a couple weeks. There are a couple near my work that have been colored up for about that long and are still intense =)

This one is 'Autumn Brilliance.' Someone chose the right name! It has been a beautiful fall in this area.
hortster

Lucky you hortster! The two at my house turned a pale yellow orange and quickly dropped afterwards. Our fall has been a big bust with a few exceptions.

This post was edited by j0nd03 on Fri, Nov 8, 13 at 14:39

Sugar maple in NWA this weekend below. Boy is it a shame GW po'd Arktrees. It may have been past peak, but man o man where there some stunners up there begging to be photographed and posted here!

Don't forget to right click and "view image" as with all my pics =)

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It's those dam* principles getting in the way again. ;-)

Arktrees

Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip tree at my neighbor's. Most years it has pretty similar fall color. If space allows it is going to be a sight to behold at 80 foot across.

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My Metasequoia Ogon and the neighbor's Acer saccharum , sugar maple.

I can almost never set up a good shot there, too much clutter, whatever that purple seeded bean vine is frosted to death, it just seems busy. Looks better reflected from the roof of my mustang.

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Our sugars are all defoliated save for just a few. The A. rubrums in the woods are mostly bare, but the cultivars (esp. October Glory) are hanging on to some nice color. The Liriodendrons are bare. Even some of the oaks are now dropping - the color was good but short lived this year on the oaks.

Some Sweetgums are holding on nicely, but this morning, I noticed they (as well as some maples and others) seem to have some freeze damage to the leaves now after 2 mornings in the low to mid 20s.

Was an excellent year for fall color of Tulip Trees locally. The nicest yellow that I have seen from them in several years. This is one tree that I personally think very highly of whether it colors well in the fall or not. Probable because it's a bit different than most other large trees. There are lots of Oaks, Maples, etc, but only one Tulip Tree.

Side note. It has long been thought that Tulip Tree was a member of the Magnolia family. Some recent genetic analysis shows that they have been distinct for a very long time. Turns out they are not a Magnolia at all.

Arktrees

I love Tuliptree/Yellow Poplar/etc.

So HUGE, so outstanding. Most of the tallest trees in our woods locally are Lirodendrons. Usually a good 10-20 feet taller than the oaks that typically accompany them. There are several around here that are easily 130 feet tall.

A casual glance outdoors reveals a much more winter-like scene now, as we're 90% defoliated overall.

Some color still remains though. A lot of the street trees are Acer rubrum 'October Glory' & various Pyrus calleryana, both of which mostly still have leaves, but past-peak in color. There are also some Scarlet Oaks that still look outstanding - one in particular I'll try to get a picture of tomorrow morning (I go into work at 10:30 so should have good lighting for a pic) - it's a youngish tree, still pyramidal shaped & branched to the ground, but has a very intense, and late developing color every year. From the car I'd guess it's about 10" caliper, so it's no sapling, but not big enough to develop the spreading, mature form yet.

Some of the later-coloring Acer rubrum cultivars (some Red Sunset but mostly October Glory) still look great, but the seedling rubrums (wild or planted) are long bare at this point. A few sweetgums are holding on, but mostly drying out and dropping. The white oaks have some leaves, but mostly the browned, dried up ones that hang on most of the winter. Same for the pins. The N. Red oaks are mostly bare or nearly so. Beeches are bare. Liriodendrons are bare. The deciduous conifers are peaking or a bit past now - I'll try to snap some pics of a couple nice Metasequoia tomorrow as well. The Callery pears are average this year. Sugar Maples pretty much defoliated.

Some of the Sawtooth Oaks have a nice yellow that is just now developing - these typically stay green until sometime between Nov. 15 & December 1, then normally just turn a weak chartreuse & drop, but this year some actually seem to be turning a good yellow. We'll see what happens -they're my least favorite oak (invasive, not particuarly attractive) but this might redeem them for me temporarily.

Larch in protected areas are the only plant hanging onto a small bit of color. Pear in some cases as well.

Sugar maples and ash defoliated well over a month ago. Most oak defoliated a couple weeks ago.

There was that one week in mid October that just ruined fall color, ecspecially in my garden. 75% of my plants held on to brown leaves until the other day when those 50+mph winds whipped through.

This is the first year in 8 years I have nothing to show for with the expection of my Fall Fiesta Sugar Maple.

Til next year!

Ok whaas,
JUST FOR YOU. :-)

This is our Fall Fiesta Sugar Maple near peak color. Just before hitting absolute peak, dry high winds took some of the color from drying out leaves, and then took some of the leaves. I will leave these pics up for a few days, then break the links just like I have done with my posted pics from the past.

Arktrees

Leaf close up on the north shady side of the tree.

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Near peak color on a sunny day.

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Just past peak color after the high dry win had worked on it a while.

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For comparison sake. This is the very same tree a few minutes before I planted it 6 (six) years before almost to the exact date. It has grown well.

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This post was edited by arktrees on Tue, Nov 19, 13 at 13:20

Nice color, Ark. That's turning into quite the nice tree.

Real nice, sometimes you have bend your own rules!

This is all I have!

Massive Katsura that was just beginning to turn very late. Typically they defoliate early here. I still can't believe how big this thing is for my area.

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Another Katsura in the same park same time.

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This sugar maple near a lake turned very very late compared to all other sugar maples in the area.

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An unknown Red Maple cultivar in my yard. Turned super early since its a dry spot.

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My Fall Fiesta Sugar Maple. Stood up to a week long of low 20s to then peak late October. A truly amazing cultivar. The Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum next to it stood up well too. Very very dark burgundy this year.
Maple is ~20' tall. Took the pic from inside so I had to zoom.

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Posting from work...let's hope this works. I got some pics this morning. THE Scarlet Oak was obstructed by a big truck, but the one I did get was pretty nice. Some browning near the lower branches, but still pretty nice-the pics do not do it justice.

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A decent Quercus coccinea (Scarlet Oak)...was better a few days ago.

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Nice Acer rubrum hanging on to strong color

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Nice Specimen of Metasequoia

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Quercus acutissima-Sawtooth Oaks-nice color for them

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The deepest purple Sweetgum I have ever seen

Loving this thread.