Love Your Landscape – October 2014

Jacksonville is a wonderful place to enjoy fall colors! If you’ve lived here very long, you’ve probably identified your favorite tree for fall color, whether in your own yard or somewhere in town.

This month, we’ll have a show that lasts several weeks thanks to the large variety of deciduous trees and shrubs planted throughout Jacksonville.

We have an opportunity to create this same beauty in our home landscapes by planting specific trees and shrubs with dramatic color. A few plantings that provide color and also thrive in our planting zone include: (for yellows) Birch, Aspen, and Ginkgo, (for reds) Red Maple, (Autumn Blaze, Red Sunset, October Glory) Dogwood, Japanese Maple, Sourwood, Red Oak, Sugar Maple, (for purples) Raywood Ash.

For shrubs, I like Burning Bush (Euonymus Alatus) and Sumac since both provide some of the most vibrant reds you’ll ever see!

To maximize fall color, planting is key. Although fall and spring are good times to plant, fall has more advantages. For a new tree, shrub or perennial, fall gives roots more time to make a strong development push in advance of new spring growth. When plants go dormant during the winter and energy is transferred to the roots, it creates better and more extensive root systems that have lasting benefits year-round. Finally, trees planted in fall will be less stressed because of the head-start the root system has during the winter months.

Since there’s a significant dry season in the Rouge Valley with several months with little or no rainfall, another advantage to fall planting is that the rainy season begins now.

And remember, providing high-quality planting material for your plants is a good investment and gets your new trees and shrubs off to the best possible start. I hope you enjoy the beautiful colors of the season and love your landscape!