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| Though some of you might enjoy some pictures from the Ozarks of North Arkansas. While we are not at peak color as of yet, there is color to be seen. The fall color show varies widely. Some years are fabulous, rivaling most anyone, other years not so much, and a few are pretty dull. Not yet sure how this year will end up. Too many weather extremes over the last year. Since February, near all time record snowfall, all time record cold, followed by, record wet (27" rain in 5 weeks), followed by drought and all time record high temps. Add to that, last week was very very warm and some fairly strong dry air windy days. So we will see. Still I have gotten some pretty nice color in spots over the last week or two, and thought I would share. I will add more that I consider worthwhile as the season progresses. Hopefully we will end up with nice color despite the weather difficulties of this year.
Arktrees First up, a view from a ridge top looking over the Ozark National Forest.
How about a bit of Sweetgum
Sassafras anyone?
Blackgum next to the road.
Native Sugar Maple. Range maps say it doesn't live here natively, but it does.
Sugar Maple "Autumn Splendor'
Some Hickory.
Largest American Smoke Tree that I know of in the area. About 5" caliper and probable 15'-18' tall. The last picture was taken a week after the others.
Some Ash trees this year would rival any Ginkgo.
Autumn Blaze Maples. These have been developing color for a couple weeks now.
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Nice pix, we have some color starting, but things are a little later than I remember. It's been pretty warm, I don't know if that matters. We haven't had a lot of frost. Most of my oaks are green. I should get pics of the Appalacians, maybe next weekend. I got my first camera. The hard part is learning how to post them. |
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| Sorry I forgot to add these to the first post. A small Red Maple on the side of the road.
Our Paperbark Maple from a couple weeks ago.
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- Posted by philinsydney1 (My Page) on Mon, Oct 17, 11 at 5:34
| I love that yellow ash. |
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| Spectacular scenery. Lovely Autumn color. Cher |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Mon, Oct 17, 11 at 8:49
| super.. looks like a wonderful day to play outside.. we just had 3 dark gloomy days of rain.. and your pix perked me up thx! ken |
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| Thanks for your feedback everyone. Poaky, we have not yet had frost either. Has been to the upper 30's at my house a few times though. Supposed to be in the 20's for a couple days this week. Hope it doesn't get so cold as to just take the laves off the trees. Ken, happy to have helped. If it makes you feel any better, most people in this part of the country would love to trade a few of these days for "3 dark gloomy days of rain". The drought continues, though there has been some relief in my area, most locations such as John's, are seeing little to nothing. Arktrees |
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| Those Freeman maples have got to be one of the most consistent fall coloring trees. They are always the same color and color up in the same fashion. |
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| Don't every worry about being picture heavy. I love pictures. Thanks for sharing. My favorites have to be the sassafras, autumn splendor sugar maple, and of course the black gum! |
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| Time for an update. Today I'm going to bombard you with even more photos. LOTS more. I will include some general info so as to help you understand from when and where these originate. Color peak is FAST approaching. Changes are easily visible day to day after last weeks colder weather. We reached 22 degrees at my home, which had some damaging effect on some plants. Our Sugar Maples have small necrotic areas, but are in process of coloring very well anyway. Others (i.e. ginkgo) just got toasted, and will have little to no color this year. lastly, more info is available in the title of the pictures, but please ask if you have a specific question. Hope you enjoy them. Arktrees First up is a series of pictures I took last Sunday 10/23/2011 in the Ozarks. Color has progressed a great deal since these photos were taken.
We saw these Sugar Maples last week in the last set. Much has changed in a week.
We saw this location last time as well.
Now a few from the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks. Taken Monday 10/24/2011.
And yes we can grow conifers here as well.
Next are pictures of some of our own plantings.
Scarlet Oak, so read you think your eyes are going to bleed. Pictures do not do it justice as to how red it truly is.
Next is two photo's showing random Sugar Maples in the area that I happen to like very much. The first one begins to have a few colored leaves in early-mid September at the top, and then has finished with this gorgeous display every year. Would someone like to graph it? The second one is not yet to peak color, but always puts on a excellent show.
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| Whoa! Fantastic pics, ark. Gorgeous sugars on display and that scarlet looks very red to me. I will now put the canon powershot in my truck in anticipation of those colors showing up down here. Do you know what kind of hickory was so yellow in your pic? John |
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| John, Sorry, but I don't know what kind of hickory that is. I will try to go back soon and get a few more detailed pictures. I don't think that the botanical garden planted it, I think it was already there. I can tell you it is right next to the highway, kinda on a bit of a south facing slope. Habitat info may help determine species. There is a patch of forest right behind it with similarly color hickories. I don't think they are shagbark, which is about the only hickory I recognize on site. As for the Scarlet Oak, it has performed far in excess of what I was expecting. We had it planted as a 2" caliper B&B tree in about the 3rd week of November 2010. So the tree has been in that location about 11 months. NEVER expected to get fall color this year, and certainly not such high quality color. In addition, it had normal sized leaves, and shoots from 6" to about 2' long in the upper part of the tree. None of which I expected from a just planted tree. My best explanation is that the tree was frequently root pruned at the tree farm, resulting in a dense root ball that was able to quickly recover after digging. Of, and of course my exceptionally good care. ;-) joking. Just allot of good luck too. Arktrees |
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| I bet that hickory is mockernut. Look up pics of mature bark. It is pretty easy to ID even when young. Juvenile bark is more of a charcoal grey with black patches mixed in. We have mostly mockernut around here and they have turned/are turning yellow for the most part. I found a couple in the woods with good color yesterday that got tagged for transplanting a little later this fall. While I was looking at the hickory, I also found a couple of post oaks nearly as red as your scarlet however it was only on a few leaves. I will have to get pics today when I get home. Also noticed the local ash trees made major progress overnight last night and there was a LOT more yellow on the way to work today (even though last night was pretty mild with the low around 53*). John |
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| It's me again. I'm going to assume that anyone still looking at this thread will have broadband, as the number of pictures I have already posted will have discouraged users with slow connections. Therefore I will uploading this next set as un reduced. If you rather I not do so in any follow-ups, please post your preference. With that said, we are today at very near or at peak color. Hear that John? It's time to take that drive through north Arkansas hills. ;-) It's turning out to be a pretty good color year despite a year of pure crap in the weather department. All time record lows, all time record highs, all time record rainfall and flooding, and then drought. With that, it's time for pictures. If you like, let me know that you appreciate them. Arktrees So how good is the fall color? Not often you see Post Oak with bright red color. Not your normal color tree.
A close up.
Our Scarlet Oak is just wonderful, and currently at peak color.
How about a sapling Nuttall Oak? This one is going to my sister's/dad's home. They lost all their large trees in a tornado in May.
How about an unappreciated native Deciduous Holly Ilex decidua. Did not get the focus quit right, will try again.
A small groove of hickory in a yard showing their finest.
Next up is some Flowering Dogwood. The first 4 pictures are trees planted on the south side of an office building in nearly 100% sun. Despite reference materials, these trees are perfectly happy in full sun as long as they have enough water.
Our Commemoration Sugar Maple is also at peak color. Is this orange enough for everyone?
Next up is the less common Triflorum Maple. Most leaves were killed by 22 degrees last week, but a few did survive to yield full color, and the bark is fantastic.
And just so you won't think I'm about out of plants to add photos of, here is a bit of a sneak peak of what may be to come. The Fire Dragon Shuntung Maple is beginning to a bit of color to a few leaves.
But for today, I will end this post with a few of the hills that surround Fayetteville Arkansas. These were taken today, during the rain, shortly before dark.
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| Oh man, eat your heart out New England! Stunning pics, all those sugar maplea yours included and those hickories, yowza! Gonna try to get the wife up there Saturday and maybe pick up a couple trees. This will now be bookmarked and revisited during any and all snow events this winter. |
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| I'm eating my heart out ha ha, fall color is mediocre at best this year. Usually I can brag a little about the Sugar maples but they pretty much look terrible. Most turned a dull yellow brown and dropped leaves early. :( Arktrees, it is pretty where you live. Gorgeous yellow Ash, amazing oaks, and I love the Sassafras! Nice Callicarpa too. Seeing your colorful pictures makes me feel a little less deprived. It would be great to see those trees in person. |
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- Posted by treeguy123 AL 7a (My Page) on Sat, Oct 29, 11 at 1:51
| Nice pics arktrees. That Post oak is amazing, it's fairly rare to find a bright red Post Oak. I'm pretty sure the native wild trees you call Sugar maple are actually Florida Maple (Acer floridanum), we have them here also. They look almost identical except they take heat better being native father south than Sugar maple. Some treat it as a subspecies of Acer saccharum, but however it is placed, it's a somewhat different tree than the common Sugar maple. The fall colors here are brighter than most years also, it's very nice (many years are dull if we get a early freeze or drought). Amount of color has a lot to due with the weather. |
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| treeguy, Thanks for the feedback. Glad you like the pics. Only way I know if people are looking at this thread is if there are comments to push it back to the top. I am very aware of Acer floridanum a.k.a. Acer barbatum and all the other scientific names associated with these trees. These trees are not those. Habitat is typical of Acer saccharum. A. barbatum is typically near streams, and lower areas. These trees are not near stream. They are most prevalent on north to east facing hillsides, where moisture is expected to be better, up to the crest of the hill. They can be found elsewhere, but typically there is some sheltering influence. The soils do not match those of A. barbatum. These trees are much larger than typically associated with A. barbatum. They are consistently more colorful in the fall. The leaves are larger than A. barbatum. They fit seem to fit into what was once call A. saccharum subsp. schneckii. Of course all these classifications are in flux, and argued over by the "experts'. I personally am incline to accept that they are subspecies in process of speciation, but aren't there just yet. However, I do not work in this field, nor am I an expect of any sort. I have simply had a few taxonomy classes in my day. As from my explaination above, I have in fact made some effort to id these trees, short of locating a taxonomist working in this group. Take home is that, while I can not have absolute certainty these are in fact A. saccharum, that is far an away what seems to fit the best. In reality it is pretty meaningless for most purposes anyway. Fact is, these are large trees, that most years yield very high bright color. These trees seem to have an increased drought tolerance, as the local climate can be quit dry some years during summer. So in short, an apparent enhanced environmental tolerance. I have often thought that it would be worth some large growers time, or even a small grower looking for a product to get attention, to try graphing a few of these trees in an effort to find trees that would color well in the south east, with increased drought tolerance. Again, thanks for your efforts to be helpful. Arktrees |
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| Great job man! |
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- Posted by toronado3800 Z6 St. Louis (My Page) on Sat, Oct 29, 11 at 23:41
| Nice collection of pictures! Finally a post which took long too long to load on my cell. Good to see the oak pictures as well. This year has been strange but the second burst of fall is looking well. |
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- Posted by northtexas 7 (My Page) on Sun, Oct 30, 11 at 20:56
| Thank you for the great pictures ArkTrees! |
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- Posted by restorephoto 5 central Indiana (My Page) on Mon, Oct 31, 11 at 15:27
| Thanks for the pics! |
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| I have more. ;-) Just not got them all ready to upload yet. I didn't know Kentucky Coffee Tree was so yellow..... (HINT) :-0 Arktrees |
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| Update time. Most of autumn in the Ozarks. For those of you that have not realized it yet, autumn is generally a multi-week process here. In the northern part of the country autumn tends to be all at once, and spring tends to be all at once. I was floored several years ago when I was in upstate NY in April. When I arrive there was the tiniest little leaf buds opening on the trees, when I left a week later the trees were almost fully leafed out, and it wasn't like the weather was that warm either. Lastly, if any of you have photos you think are nice, by all means post them in this thread or elsewhere. Just ID were the region in which they were taken please, that someone looking at these at a later date does not get confused. Hope you enjoy today's pics. I still have lots of scenery style pictures of this last weekend to post, but not for tonight. I also still have some I need to go back in pick up from earlier dates that I have not yet posted. As always, please comment on what you like, and add anything you feel might be worthwhile. Hope you enjoy, Arktrees With that, lets open with a seedling Red Maple that has a nice mix of colors.
Anybody recognize this Sugar Maple? Told you it's outstanding every year.
How about some more Autumn Blaze at peak color. These are the same trees I posted a couple weeks ago.
Nice contrast with the Sugar Maples.
This is one I have not posted.
Just for you John. I think this was the most outstanding Hickory I have seen yet. Good lord was is it intense yellow. I got some bark and nut pics for you John for ID purposes.
Here's another nice contrast. Autumn Blaze Maple (man there are allot of them here), and Tulip Tree.
Occasionally you find something unexpected in a parking lot. Like this Scarlet Oak that ended up in a landscape island of a parking lot.
The rest of the pics for tonight are from the University of Arkansas campus. I did not get to stay long, as I only had change for 15 minutes on the parking meter, and the ticket nazi's are tough. I will try to make it back this weekend, but after this weeks football game. I 'think' these are 'Bonfire' Sugar Maple from their color, and rate of growth, but I can't be 100% sure. Sure are nice though.
How about a Yellowwood Tree? hopefully I can catch peak this week.
Past peak honey Locust.
IMHO, one of the nicest of the day, was this Kentucky Coffee Tree. I did not know that they were THAT yellow. Bit past peak, but still very bright.
Lastly for today, the White Oaks are just beginning to wear their colors for the year.
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| Nice pics. Random questions, but why do you think oaks always begin to color at random branches toward the interior of the tree. Normally they aren't even major branches, but a few twigs here or there. Could it just be that they were more shaded out or stressed this year? |
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| I'm a solid month ahead of you...these are from late Sept/early October. About 85% of trees are leafless right now. At least many trees where extremely flourescent this year. I just stuck around the yard for fall pics this year so nothing too spectacular. Musclewood Tulip Tree Witchhazel �Jenela� Sugar Maple �Fall Fiesta� Picea omorika �Peve tijn� Likely a Black Oak Seedling Oakleaf Hydrangea �Alice� Katsura Tree Native Sugar Maples Sunset from a couple weeks ago Coral Daisy Mum Red Daisy Mum Hydrangea �Little Lime� cashing out for the year Fothergilla Gardenii Acer palmatum �Sangu-kaku� Sedum �Vera Jameson� |
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| Whaas, photobucket is blocked at work so I have to wait to get home to see your pics. Looking forward to it. You always have a great variety of pretties to look at. And imageshack is not blocked for some reason... Don't have much to add yet, but here are a couple pics (first 2) of a hickory way outta sight in the back woods. I am, literally, the only person to see this tree in person this year. Too bad.. The last 3 are pics of a very large 60-70'+ hickory that towers over all the oaks, ash and other hickories in the woods behind my house. You can see the top of this tree from quite a ways in any direction.
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| Jon, ark, great job on bringing some phenomenal pictures over to the GW. A few more after a walk in the yard. Not much more going on. Cornus �Samzam� Hemlock �Vermeulen Wintergold� Oak �Long� Acer �Red Dragon� Acer �Emperor 1� Acer griseum Ironwood Arborvitae �Rheingold� Ginkgo �Princeton Sentry��little late Cornus �Aurora��the actual cultivar name might be 'Kn30 8' |
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- Posted by lou_midlothian_tx z8 DFW Tx (My Page) on Tue, Nov 1, 11 at 20:19
| Nice pictures Arktrees. I still have a few more weeks before mine start to color up (and 6-8 weeks for my Montezuma cypress trees). The owner of Metro Maples found a 140 years old Shantung Maple at Kew Garden in London, England which is supposed to be the oldest outside of China. (scroll to the bottom). |
Here is a link that might be useful: 140 years old Shantung maple
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| Now that I have seen them, gorgeous pics ark and whaas. Love that paperbark whaas. And ark I am pretty sure that is indeed mocker nut both by the bark and the nuts. Lovely golden yellow. Did you save any nuts? John |
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| whass, Your Princeton Sentry Ginkgo looks ALLOT better than ours. Ours got the leaves frozen off without ANY color. Probable 1/2 of the leaves have yet to fall, but they are drooping, brown, and pale green, and will never color. Love your Paperbark. I will be planting a second paperbark a bit later in the fall. One of the local nurseries had some that were about 6' tall they were selling on clearance in late August for $50/ea. Couldn't pass that up since they were so nicely formed. I'll be bare rooting it though to find any root problems, therefore I have to wait for complete dormancy. Lou, thanks for the heads up on Metro Maples. Our Fire Dragon is just beginning to develop some color. Till now it has been isolated leaves, but more widespread color is beginning to develop. Hopefully, I will have some nice pics for you soon. Ours only grew about a foot this year. It's healthy, but I don't think it has liked our weather over the last year. How are your trees Lou? Arktrees |
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| John, Yes I did collect a few nuts, figure what the ####. I know they are supposed to grow slow, but so are Scarlet Oak Seedlings too, and I have 5 outside right now with all but one almost 3' tall. Would you like me to collect some of the the nuts from that hickory for you? There are plenty still hanging on the tree, and it's maybe a 1/2 mile from where I work. Also I will post some pics of them in a few more days, but it looks like the seedling Scarlet's are going to end up with pretty good color. Arktrees |
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| I'd love a half dozen or so if it is no trouble. Collected some white oak acorns but only 2 of 12 appear viable :( John |
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| whaas...how about a pic of that sheri's cloud nyssa!? Looks great guys! |
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| I'll probable be able to get by there Friday and collect some of them for you. Don't forget I have a bag full of White Oak acorns for you when you pick up your stuff from the nurseries. The White Oak pictures above, are two of the trees I collected acorns from. FYI, in case you don't know, White Oak acorns sprout in the fall, so they have to be planted out in the fall. I planted 5 last weekend in pots. Arktrees |
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| ark, the funny thing is that Ginkgo might get the boot. Probably will be a great tree for years to come but that girdling root and possiblity for decay makes me nervous. My 'Autumn Gold' is doing what you described. Its yellow at the edges and the rest is green. It has dropped more than half the canopy like that. Nice steal on the Paperbark. They are hard to find and expensive (at least in this area)! I definitely need to plant a Scarlet Oak. My Hills Oak died...Scarlet probably has the better fall color anyhow. Jq, the fall color on the Nyssa happened faster (same for the species plant I have) than I could get a picture. I can tell you the one walk by I did it had color EXACTLY like the Cornus 'Samzam' as shown above. Hopefully both plants will have settled in for next year. |
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- Posted by lou_midlothian_tx z8 DFW Tx (My Page) on Wed, Nov 2, 11 at 14:04
| Arktrees, my shantung maples have done well, growing 2-3 feet despite excessive heat all summer long. Just glad that I finally got some rain in the fall although not enough to fill up lakes and ponds around here. A couple weeks ago when I went for a run, I found a couple of shantung maples that are about 25 feet tall in another neighborhood. Must be one of first ones to plant them. That's the largest ones outside of Metro Maples I've come across so far. |
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| I heard you missed me.... I'm back!!!! ;-) Just playing a bit. Well we are descending on the downward slope of fall colors toward winter at a rapid pace. So while I will still have individual pictures to share, the pace of uploads will be dropping off, and I'm sure it's just in the nick of time. Today I'll be posting mostly scenery type pictures. They were taken last Friday and Saturday 10/28&29. Some of them seem to be a bit past peak, but you can't win them all. I also have to take the time to credit my significant other, as she took many of these pictures for me. Mainly because after weeks of driving to look at the trees, I was sick of climbing in and out of the car. LOL As always, hope you enjoy. Arktrees First up are pictures from within the city limits of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Fayetteville has a population of 74,000 plus 20,000+ students at University of Arkansas, with a total county population of 200,000+ concentrated around Fayetteville northward. Wouldn't know it from these pictures. They take trees seriously in Fayetteville, so you would often not know the number of people that are actually present.
Overlooking original downtown Fayetteville.
Now is a series from the highways, and backroads of the Ozarks.
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| My turn... with Ark's blessing I'm going to post some fall pics taken in Fort Smith yesterday. Unfortunately, the trees peaked 2-3 days before I could get the camera out and most trees lost a LOT of color, especially the sugar maples. Some pics were taken at my house, some on the side of the road and some just off the road in town. Let's start with sugar maple pics: Acer saccharum
Liriodendron tulipifera
Prunus spp
The camera really did not do justice to the last two pics above. Beautiful oranges... Carya spp
More coming... |
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| I want to start out with the two largest willow oaks I have ever seen. There are 5 other willow oaks around 30' tall that are just absolutely dwarfed by by the two humongous willow oaks. They are also not really in color but I just HAVE to show them off. Quercus phellos
Quercus marilandica
Quercus stellata
Quercus falcata
Cornus florida
Fraxinus spp
Acer rubrum and x freemanii
Pistacia chinensis
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| I'm jealous...this is what we dealt with the other day. It hit 24 degrees last night. First hard freeze of the year. My Dawn redwood is the only thing left with leaves.
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| John, EXCELLENT. Glad to you some pics of Pistache. I've been seeing some with good color, but I think they are kinda screwed up here this year. I think that is the most color I have seen Southern Red Oak with as well. Mostly have seen a spot or two of red or yellow, but mostly just brown. LOVE the HUGH Willow Oak. I found probable the biggest Sugar Maple I've seen on the University of Arkansas campus last weekend. The trunk diameter was somewhere close to 4' (yes feet). Whaas, no snow for us yet. It can happen, but extremely rare here for early November. But if it make you feel any better, my little cold spot valley hit 22 degrees yesterday morning, and hit 22 degrees a couple weeks ago. The cold yesterday pretty much finished off almost everything left in my immediate area. In town, there's still color due to the heat island, but it's getting pretty leafless where my house is. But never fear, I have MORE pictures to post. I just have not gotten it done yet. Coming up, I have 'Fire Dragon' Shuntung Maple, White Oak, Ginkgo, and Western Soapberry (but not quiet at peak), among others. Arktrees |
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| Look forwrd too it...perhaps start a new post part deux. This post takes quite awhile to load even on my T3 connection. |
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| Agreed, new thread/topic/post needed! I took a few more pics at lunch today. I will try to get them up this weekend. They will probably be the last I take, fall color is fading very fast around here. Still some beauties out there, though. John |
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| The willow oaks around here get absolutely huge as well. You'd be in awe! They are a staple on college and school campuses. As far as this thread...boy did my browser hiccup this time. I think it's time for another fall thread. There was a fall thread created around the same time this one was... |
Here is a link that might be useful: Couple of Fall Pix
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