Organic Answers Column – November 30, 2022 – Fall Colors

Fall Color

For the Dallas, Fort Worth area, this year’s fall color is pretty good. Calm down you gardeners in Boston, Bar Harbor, Asheville, Fayetteville, Denver, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Roanoke and others. We understand you have us beat by a long shot. But this year, we can brag a little.

The reason this season is better is due to more of the conditions it takes to have decent color – crisp, cold temperatures, the right soil moisture, and some bright sunny days at the right times?

Texas ash fall color ranges from bright yellow to deep reds all on the tree at the same time

Howard’s ginkgo this week

Prairie or flame leaf sumac has spectacular red fall color

Soil moisture, cold nighttime temperatures and nutrient availability all affect the amount of anthocyanins and carotenoids leaves can produce, but cool-to-cold nights, soil on the dry side and bright sunny days produce the most brilliant fall color. Some people mistakenly believe that more rain and soil moisture help fall color, but just the opposite is true. Trees under a slight amount of stress produce the most vivid fall colors. At least that’s the case here.

Orangeola is one of my favorite Japanese maples and has impressive fall color. It’s also quite tough in he summer

Fall color in north Texas doesn’t hold a candle to the magnificent show that trees in colder parts of the country display, but there are some tree choices that have pretty dependable color. My favorites are Texas red oak, ginkgo, Texas ash, bigtooth and Caddo maple, flame leaf sumac, Persian ironwood, Mexican buckeye, paperbark maple and most all the Japanese maples.

Here’s a little of some of the best fall color plants in my gardens and near me here in Dallas:

Murasaki kiyohime Japanese maple new growth