Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica, USDA climate zones 3-9, find your zone) turns blazing reds and oranges in fall but promises great, glossy foliage year round. This versatile tree develops a deep taproot, meaning that even though it's common in wetlands, it works great in drought once it's settled in. (It also means you should site it carefully for the long term.) Did I mention it’s native to the eastern half of North America? Tupelo grows 30-50 feet high and 20-30 feet wide.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons user Berean Hunter
Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons user Berean Hunter
There may be a correlation between taprooted trees native east of the Mississippi and fall color, because it’s the same story with shagbark hickory (Carya ovata, zones 4-8). This tree turns a gorgeously clear yellow in fall and wows year-round with its namesake shaggy bark. It has the potential to grow very large, at 70-90 feet high and 50-70 feet wide. (I’ve seen it grow much smaller among other trees.) And if you’re looking for hickory nuts to eat, it’s best to plant a group.
Photo: Derek Harper
Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata)
Photo: Derek Harper
I never see anyone planting oaks anymore, which is a shame because you’d be hard pressed to find a tree more beneficial to more kinds of wildlife. Red oak (Quercus coccinea, zones 4-9) is a fantastic choice for fall color if red is your game. Plant it where its acorns won’t be a bother, and let it grow. It gets 50-70 feet high and 40-50 feet wide.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons user Grotte
Red oak (Quercus coccinea)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons user Grotte
Sassafras (Sassafras albidum, zones 4-9) is another eastern native and known for its spicy scent — it was traditionally used in Native American medicine. An understory tree, it can take a measure of shade and often grows as a suckering, shrubby colony, but suckers can be clipped to make it a single-trunked tree. Its leaves turn red to orange to gold in fall. A large tree, it grows 30-60 feet wide and 25-40 feet high, and a taproot means it’s drought-tolerant and that you should plant it with care in a spot you want it to stay.
by Andrew Keys
The only non-native in this group is also the smallest: an easy-to-grow spindle tree called Euonymus carnosus (zones 4-7) with big, glossy leaves that turns a deep red-purple in fall. This plant isn’t a thug like its popular, weedy cousin burning bush (Euonymus alata), and it grows into a graceful small tree, about 12-20 feet high and wide, the perfect size for patios.
by Andrew Keys
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colors of moss green and yellow and red and brown that I would have never stopped to see had it not been so close to me. Birds foraged it bark for insects, squirrels traversed it daily to
reach their summer nests and the supermarket of acorns it provided - chattering at me as I
prepared a meal at the stove. Even an occasional snake paid a visit during their fall or spring moving periods. It fell during Hurricane Irene. Local nurseries have been unable to find me a young replacement for planting a bit farther out in the yard. But a horticulturist suggested that I take a particularly nice sapling baby coming up near the boxwood border and plant it. I plan to do just that. I would like someone else in the future to know what paradise is. These mature beauties are the height of true luxury no matter what your pocket book might hold. Yes, plant more oaks, please. And other major trees too. We need them.
My parents have two red oaks in their backyard, and yeah, they have wonderful vibrant fall color. I suspect oaks take too long for most people, who want Perfection Right Now. Which is a shame. I'm in a neighborhood with quite a few bur oaks, and they are magnificent.