Seeing the hills and valleys ablaze with color is a special Autumn event. Many variables influence how bright the colors will be, such as sunlight, temperature, rainfall, and soil conditions. These will cause color variations in a given tree from one year to the next or even differences in various portions of the same tree.

A major factor affecting forest color is tree species. We are blessed to live where there are mixed mesophotic forests, a fancy way of saying our bumpy mountain terrain creates a lot of varying micro-climates that create a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines (over 200 species) that makes our forests extra colorful. Here is a list of trees and shrubs categorized by the predominate color they produce:

YELLOW: Post oak, basswood, buckeye, silver maple, willow, beech, sweet birch, elm, hickory, witch hazel, black walnut, river birch, sycamore, black locust, sassafras, redbud.
GOLD: Willow oak, yellow poplar, ironwood, ash, sugar maple
ORANGE: Hawthorn, northern red oak, sassafras, sugar maple
SCARLET: White oak, blackgum, sweetgum, sourwood, ironwood.
PURPLE: Sweetgum, ash.
BROWN: Chestnut oak, post oak, cucumber tree, magnolia, boxelder, butternut, persimmon, black walnut, catalpa, black oak, northern red oak.
RED: Scarlet oak, red maple, dogwood, sassafras, hawthorn, sumacs.
RED-BROWN: Black Cherry, Serviceberry, wild plum, ailanthus, Virginia creeper.

It is possible to enhance the fall coloration around your home by selecting landscape trees that produce the color mixtures you want. You can also improve striking color combinations of woodland areas by selectively removing tree species with dull or unwanted colors and encouraging those with high color contrast. Keep pines or other evergreens mixed in with the stand to add variety and keep the winter scene from being too bleak. This is probably a project you would only do in woodlands that are highly visible from your home or driveway.

By: Steve Roark
TN Dept. Agriculture, Forestry Division