Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Fall foliage 2018
Weather plays a large role in what our Fall colors look like. In particular, we get more vibrant reds when we have warm, sunny autumn days and cool nights. Yellows and oranges tend to stay pretty consistent from year to year but all colors will be duller if we have a warm wet period during the Fall.
For the best color we need a warm wet Spring, a drought free summer and a Fall with warm sunny days and cool nights (we shall see). Looking out my window right now (Labor Day)… it’s POURING…
Of course, if we have a severe frost early, the leaves die and that’s that! Forecasters, are suggesting peak will arrive slightly later in 2018, thanks to the weather. Specifically, the later peak is due to “heavier precipitation and warmer temperature trends expected through September.
On top of that, they said the way conditions play out through September will have a huge impact on the colors you’ll see, it’s the most important month and for the best color we need sunshine! I’m hoping for the best!
I love Fall. I mentioned some Fall color plants to place in your landscape yesterday but there’s more!
Take a stroll through your local garden nurseries, see what’s going on there and ask questions. Some options could include Serviceberry aka Juneberry. It’s a great native shrub with fabulous fall colors that range from orange to red. The wildlife, including us, find the fruit pretty darn good too.
Lindens and Kentucky Coffee trees have all around great looks with a pretty yellow fall color.
Consider the Hawthorn, a top notch small landscape accent shrub with a superb branching habit, a blanket of white flowers in spring, red berries and brilliant color in fall, sort of like a tomatoey orangey gold! ‘Crusader’ is thornless too! It grows 25 feet wide and 25 feet tall, is great for under powerlines and you can underplant it. It’s canopy clearance is typically about 3 feet from the ground.
