Anyone have a favorite most folks do not consider?

I'm thinking about nominating white oak.

Resin

Don't get me started...there are so many luscious colors out there! Can't wait for our season to start.

Most variegated Cornus kousa turn a vibrant pink.

American Smoke Tree Continus obovatus, and some of the cultivars of European Smoke Tree.

Yellowwood Cladrastis kentukea

Chalk Maple Acer luecoderme

Triflorum Maple Acer triflorum

PaperBark Maple Acer griseum

Various Hickory Carya sp.

Ilex decidua, leaves drop reveling very bright persistent berries.

Lets not forget everyone's favorite, Callery Pears. It's one of the things that makes them popular, though not enough to go planting them IMHO.

Arktrees

Some of those Malus cultivars include 'Stain Cloud', 'Donald Wyman' and 'Prairie Fire'.

Any others you can share that you know of?

Arktrees

The black gum in my front yard is very nice also, it has horizontal branches, pyramid shape, & it is a volunteer. (free)

Sometimes red oak trees produce nice red fall color but not always. Bradford (and others) sometimes give us nice fall color. Chinese Pistache...

Bald cypress seem to produce most consistent fall color. I've seen a few that was pure red color. Wow! I collected seeds off this nice looking Montezuma cypress a couple years ago and grew one that produced red "winter" red color. Now that it is a lot bigger, I'm curious to see if it repeats that color in its 2nd year. It's pretty cool to have some color during the winter. More people in the southern states should grow Montezuma cypress.

Keep it in mind that it's in Dallas-Ft Worth area. Not exactly known for its fall color although we have our own Lost Maple Forest in south central Texas where sugar maples are thriving and produces nice fall color...

Strangely, Sweetgum trees that experts claims cannot grow in our aklaine soil often produce great fall color. I think it depends on rainfall but who knows?

Cladrastis kentuckiana (Yellowwood)

Acer triflorum (Three-flower Maple)

My Yellowwood started as a seedling that I planting around 1980. It's a fantastic tree with great yellow fall color.

My Three-flower Maple has been in the ground 13 years. Last year was the first year that it had really nice color. I'm hoping it repeats that show every year.

I have a seedling as well and trying to get an idea of its 30 year width in zone 5, Midwest.

My Tilia americana seem to have a nice golden yeloow with a hint of orange right now. Not sure if that is typical or not.

The Yellowwood was planted near the west edge of our property between two Hackberry trees that are 50-60' tall. Neither Hackberry has a limb lower than about 25'. The Yellowwood is 30-40' from the southernmost Hackberry and perhaps 15' from the northernmost Hackberry. Just beyond the property line is a gravel driveway. On the other side of that driveway (20' from the Yellowwood?) is a White Pine that's probably 60' tall. It's almost due west of the Yellowwood. There are other smaller trees in that vicinity, but the White Pine is predominant.

The Hackberries (not a dense canopy at all) don't seem to affect the growth of the Yellowwood. However, growth on the west side is limited significantly by the White Pine. So, I'll give the Yellowwood's diameter on a N-S axis. It's about 30-35'.

Soil conditions are unique as well, and may play a significant role in the success I've had with this tree. The area is in the floodway for a small stream that runs across our front yard. Flooding can be severe, but is usually short-lived. Also, the area where the tree is planted was once apparently part of the septic system drain field. (We're now connected to city sewer.) A 10-foot wide strip of low-lying area along the west edge of the property was filled with coarse crushed limestone, probably in the 1950s. This may have had something to do with the septic system. The crushed stone is 12-15" deep. (People who complain about having to plant in clay ought to try planting in this area!) I removed several L. Maackii and dug a small hole (1-2'?) through the crushed stone in order to plant the Yellowwood.

The bottom line is that the tree sits partially in a bed consisting of crushed limestone with considerable accumulated organic matter and silt from flood events. At least that's the case for the the roots that travel north or south from the tree. To the east, the roots encounter the clay that came from the digging of our basement in '39. To the west is the aforementioned driveway (gravel and crushed stone that's slightly elevated and probably 12-18" deep).

Generally, our soil is fantastic here. It's very well drained, unlike the clay soils seen in most of central Indiana.

Also, I would note that the Yellowwood State Forest in southern Indiana isn't all that far from the world-famous limestone quarries. Much of southern Indiana is underlain with shallow limestone. I'm guessing that the Yellowwoods in the state forest thrive at least in part because of that limestone, but I've never done any checking. So it's only a guess.

I don't know how helpful this information will be, but certainly hope you have as much luck with your Yellowwood seedling as I've had with mine. I'm actually thinking about planting a second Yellowwood about 50' further south (still in the limestone bed), and between a pair of the big Hackberries, but I hate the thought of digging in that crushed stone!

I second many of the trees already listed and would also add japanese maples and katsura.

One of my trees that I am happily surprised about the fall color is european beech. At the beginning of the turn it starts out a fairly nice yellow but over the days the color deepens and deepens into a gorgeous rich golden/orange color. I got lucky in that it's planted where it gets backlit from the sun.

While it's not a tree, I have a climbing hydrangea growing up an oak that turns a beautiful yellow.

Another tree that can have good fall color is American persimmon. My male trees, in particular, are nice, turning mostly yellow but with some red and orange highlights. This too I think varies, though, with either cultivar, gender, or site, because my grafted 'Meader' female tree just turns ugly yellow green and drops, but always puts on a nice show with the vibrant orange fruit after the leaves drop. My female seed-grown tree, by contrast, is in between these two extremes, with tolerable but not great fall color most years.

They put on about 6" a year...if you can find them in this area. They are very expensive b&b for that very reason. I have three going right now and will select the most vigorous with a the best branching structure to plant out in a year or two.

Separately, I don't remember if I ever uploaded photos of my 175-200 year old Q. Michauxii in the back yard. I'll have to double-check. I've now got an off-spring that's probably 18' tall now, too! Neither has fall color that's of much interest, but I keep watching for 2- to 3-year-old seedlings that might be worth saving for the red fall color. This tree is well north of what is generally considered to be it's native range, but it's obviously been happy here for a very long time. We have numerous oaks of this age/size in the area, but this one has the best structure of them all. If only it had more interesting fall color......

Here are a couple fall shots this year so far...yes both are known for fall color and one is a shrub but who cares!

Fothergilla gardenii

Acer palmatum 'Sangu kaku'

One of the oddities about our local climate is we can have fall.color at the same time we have vivid blooms on Corymbia ficifolia and Metrosideros robusta or Cunnonia capensis and Pittosporum undulating perfuming entire blocks in winter. Plus some of the deciduous Asian Magnolias are already blooming in December here. Throw in blooming subtropicals such as Brugmansias which can get 25 feet tall and continue blooming all winter, and it may actually be the fall color deciduous trees that seem out of place against the predominant evergreens of our Coast Live Oaks, Madrones, Bay Laurels, Douglas Firs and Coast Redwoods. The few native deciduous trees are mostly just a few willows, California Buckeyes, Bigleaf Maples here by the bay. October and November are actually the beginning of the growing season here with the early fall rains. Having grown up with this uniquely different climate, cold winters and dormant trees aren't what we're used to here.

My nominees, Bitternut hickory, Norway maple & Shumard oak.

Restore, I live in Central Indiana also - Yes, the usual clay soil is a bit of a pain, but the alluvial floodplain soils are a pleasure to garden in. A fairly large creek goes across our property, and it floods a bit every year, depositing more rich, black silt. Most trees grow excellently. The forest is mostly elms, ash, and hackberry - Some sugar maple, tons of basswood. The soil never dries out completely - I'm afraid I've kind of neglected the claybound front yard and put all my effort into the floodplain!

+oM

Wild Cherry Prunus avium
****

Prunus avium has escaped in the wild in a number of areas around here. Not common, but I'm continually surprised where it shows up at times (the bark makes it easy to ID), even competing in the canopy of the oak-hickory-tuliptree forest at lower elevations. There are also some in the PA hemlock forests near here.