fall foliage berries of dogwood with hazel sweetgum hickory sycamore

October 2010

The Trees of Fall

Leonard J. Buck Garden, Far Hills, New Jersey

This time of year reds, oranges, purples, yellows, browns, and bronzes are the colors that attract the eye. Add beautiful bark and berried branches and you have the trees of fall.

The trees of fall have an assortment of characteristics and attributes. Some species such as dogwood, witch hazel, and sweetgum display bright glowing colors while birch and shagbark hickory show off their bark. Holly, spicebush, and viburnum feed the birds with their berries.

During fall, the Leonard J. Buck Garden is brightened by glorious displays of fall foliage, attractive berries and the different textures and subtle colors of tree bark. Listed are some of the amazing trees of fall now on display.

Carya ovata – shagbark hickory: The golden yellow of the hickory is one of the richest colors in the fall forest. The leaflet turns buttery yellow in fall, but it is the rugged bark of a mature shagbark that gets the attention. The gray bark is broken up into long, flat plates that are loose at one or both ends and curl outward, away from the trunk. From a distance, the trunk looks shaggy.

Shagbark hickory’s bountiful crop of nuts is an important food for a variety of wildlife and was an important food source for Native Americans and early settlers. The oil of the nuts has been used medicinally, and the Indians made “milk” by pounding the sweet, oily kernels in hot water.

The strong white wood of hickory is used for tool and implement handles, wagon wheel spokes, skis, furniture paneling, lumber and heavy timbers.

Hamamelis virginiana - common witch hazel: This native plant adds color to a winter landscape. The medium green leaves turn a golden yellow before dropping for the winter. The fringy spider-like flowers have four narrow petals held close to the branches from early October to late November. Its capsule-like fruit enshrines two shiny, hard black seeds with white, oily, edible interiors. When mature, the seeds are programmed to shoot 20 to 30 feet away. These nutty seeds were savored by Indians of the south. The flavor is like that of pistachio nuts.

Witch hazel bark, twigs and leaves were widely used by American Indians as a medicinal plant. Today witch hazel is most widely known as a mild astringent available in drugstores.

Lindera benzoin - spicebush: This east coast native shrub has bright yellow leaves and red fruits in fall. Female plants need a male pollinator in order to set fruit. The fruits are drupes which mature in fall and are attractive to birds. The fruit, leaves, and twigs all have a spicy fragrance. Larva of the spicebush swallowtail butterfly feed on its leaves.

Liquidambar styraciflua – American sweetgum: The star-shaped autumn leaves of the sweet gum tree range from dark maroon to brilliant red, soft pink, orange and clear yellow. In my opinion these leaves could be referred to as eye-candy. The leaves usually have five pointed lobes and appear to have more intense fall color if grown in poor soil.

The pendant, round, spiny, fruits are quite distinctive and young twigs have corky wings or ridges. Sweet gum grows to 100 feet, prefers moist well-drained soil but adapts to a wide range of conditions. Wrens, finches, juncos and mourning doves love its seeds. The wood is used for furniture, veneer, and plywood. The sweet gum that exudes from cuts in the bark was used medicinally in Colonial times.

Franklinia alatamaha – Franklin tree: John Bartram discovered this tree in 1765 along the banks of the Altamaha River in Georgia. These trees disappeared in the next few decades, possibly destroyed by land clearing activities in the area. Despite numerous searches, no other wild specimens have ever been found. All known living specimens are cultivated plants probably descended from a few trees (or possibly just one tree) grown in the garden of 18th-century botanists John and William Bartram.

The tree bears attractive three-inch flowers with white petals and orange stamens. Blossoms open in September and last into mid-October. The fruit is a small round capsule containing flat seeds. Leaves turn vivid orange-red before dropping in late autumn. The bark is smooth gray with irregular fissures, a very attractive feature.

Cornus florida – flowering dogwood: A familiar understory tree of deciduous woodlands throughout most of the eastern United States. In autumn the leaves take on beautiful shades of red and maroon. The fleshy red berries have a high fat content making them an important food for migrating birds. The hard wood from the trunks have been used as steps in Buck Garden.

Viburnum prunifolium – blackhaw viburnum: The glossy, finely serrated autumn leaves of this viburnum range from orange-red for woodland plants to deep maroon for plants growing in full sun. The fleshy bluish black fruits have a hard, flattened pit or stone and are readily eaten by both birds and mammals. Blackhaw grows 12 – 15 feet tall in bogs and low, moist woodlands but is adaptable to many soil types.

Betula nigra - river birch: The ovate, doubly serrate leaves of river birch turn an unrewarding yellow to brown in fall. However, the thin papery sheets of peeling rose-brown bark on young stems, and deeply-fissured brown-gray bark of old trunks, add color and texture to the autumn landscape. River birch usually grows 40 - 70 feet with a 40 – 60-foot spread, with a trunk divided into large arching branches close to the ground.

The species is bronze birch borer resistant, making it the most trouble-free birch. Coupled with the ability to grow in a variety of soils makes them a desirable landscape plant.

Autumn is the most beautiful season of the year. With the leaves changing such vibrant colors, the air crisp and clean, chilly nights perfect for sleeping and days that can still get into the high 70s .

It is also the perfect time to visit Somerset County Park Commission’s Leonard J. Buck Garden. For an autumnal experience wander through the garden and enjoy the trees of fall.

- Tricia Scibilia, interpretive gardener, Leonard J. Buck Garden, Somerset County Park Commission: www.somersetcountyparks.org
**Photos by Tricia Scibilia unless otherwise noted

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