Sassafras is gorgeous in the fall when its leaves turn yellow, orange and red (pictured at top of post). It’s fun to pick out its three types of leaves: one looks like a mitten, another like a two-thumbed mitten, and the third has no thumbs. “It’s a great scratch-and-sniff tree,” said Ed Hedborn, Manager of Plant Records and the Arboretum’s so-called Fall Color Scout. “When you scratch a twig, it smells like a fruit-flavored breakfast cereal.” Male and female flowers are on separate plants, so you’ll need both plants for blooming. This 30-60 foot tree likes sun or shade and slightly acidic soil.

When you scratch a yellow birch twig, it gives a wintergreen scent. This essence was added to medicines to make them taste better. Birch beer was a popular drink for a time, and birch bark was another root beer flavoring. Birch bark is waterproof, which helped Native Americans make good canoes and wigwams.

Birches turn a pretty, pure gold in the fall. Its silvery bark peels in elegant, thin sheets. “River birch is much more suited to our climate than the favored paper birch, which is difficult to grow here,” said Edith Makra, arborist and the Arboretum’s Community Trees Advocate. This tree can grow up to 60 feet tall, likes cool, moist soil and does well in full sun or part shade.

Staghorn sumac was also put to great uses by our ancestors. Native Americans added sumac to tobacco in their peace pipes. Colonists made a lemonade-like beverage out of the red berry fruits. High in vitamin C, it could ward off scurvy. And Appalachians used tannin from twigs and leaves to cure leather and used the bark to dye cloth.

Staghorn sumac is a fall color stunner. “It’s hit-the-breaks gorgeous,” Makra said. Common along roadsides, sumac screams gold, scarlet, purple and burgundy colors—sometimes all on one leaf. A large, fairly vigorous shrub that grows 15-25 feet high, staghorn sumac needs a lot of space. It likes full sun and tolerates dry soil and road salt.

To find out which trees are turning now, visit “Bloom ’n color” to see Ed’s Weekly Color Scout Report.

Glad You Asked
Q. I love staghorn sumac, but I don’t have the space. Is there an alternative?
A. Try Prairie Flame shining sumac. The shrub typically reaches no more than 7-feet, and is better behaved than its vigorous cousin.

Q. Why should I consider planting unusual trees?
A. Planting different kinds of trees, diversifying our urban forests, is healthier for them. That way one disease or pest like the emerald ash borer can’t wipe out a large portion of our landscapes. “We have such a large palette of trees, but people tend to use the same ones over and over,” said Arboretum Assistant Director of Collections, Kunso Kim.

This article was written by The Morton Arboretum and first appeard in the Chicago Sun Times.

But where do the brilliant reds, deep purples, and oranges come from? Certain trees have the ability to make red pigments, such as sugar maples, other maples, some oaks, sourwoods, dogwoods, tupelos, black gums and persimmons, Hedborn says. Other trees, such as honey-locusts, elms and hickories can’t make red.

Trees make more or less red depending on the amount of sunlight and rain, day and night temperatures and the plant’s health. In favorable conditions, the reds really pop. When strong red pigments combine with the yellows and oranges, you’ll see fiery reds, deep oranges and bronzes, says Hedborn. When trees make less red pigments you’ll see orange-yellow or mostly yellow leaves.

Many people want to know when the “peak” of fall color will hit. “There’s really no way to predict. It depends on the weather,” he notes.

Rather than calling it a “peak,” Hedborn likens fall color to a sequence, “because, in reality, each plant has a peak that hits at different times.” In September, sumacs, green ashes and hickories, among others, typically turn. In October it’s usually trees such as redbuds, hackberries, white ash, and white oaks that change. Come November, expect the Japanese maples, callery pears and others to finish up.

Hedborn takes inventory of which trees and plants are changing at the Arboretum, which contains trees and other plants from 40 countries, and publishes weekly Fall Color Reports through November.

One of his favorite fall color trees is the ginkgo, whose fan-shaped leaves turn a pure yellow. “The whole tree turns at once,” said Hedborn. “It’s gorgeous.” But the beauty is fleeting. “You can walk by it one day, and it will be in full glory. The next day, the leaves have fallen into a beautiful ring under the tree. But that’s the fun of autumn…to watch the changes.”

Glad You Asked

Q. Can I add anything to the soil to make my tree display prettier fall color?
A. If soil is too alkaline for pin oak, its dominant colors are brown and yellow. But if you add acid to the soil, and weather conditions are right, pin oak can turn bright red in fall. Other than this one exception, we can’t improve the fall color of our street trees.

Q. Are very colorful trees telling us they are healthy?
A. A colorful autumn is just that—colorful, according to Hedborn. Color does not indicate a plant is healthier or weaker, just that the environmental conditions are good or are poor for color production. “Plants with problems can have leaves that change color, but the color can be brown, yellow, or admittedly in some cases orange or red. But it is not predictable,” said Hedborn.

This post was adapted from an article written by The Morton Arboretum and first published in the Chicago Sun Times.