FALL COLOR TREES THAT WITHSTAND HEAT

I am in the process of designing my landscape. I live in the foothills of Clovis, CA on 7 acres. I absolutely love the fall colors that you see in the Northeast in the fall. The problem is that I have tried trees like the sugar maples and they just can't take the heat that we receive in our area. It reaches 105+ for sometimes weeks in our area. Our winters are great though. I want the full array of colors and distinct bark and foliage. Can anyone out there suggest trees that will give great color in the fall but survive our brutal summers? I was told that the zone tags would start including the summer zones but that has never happened. Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions

I can think of a tree like large shrub - Cotinus 'Grace', a cross of C. Coggyria and C. obovatus. It's hardiness tolerant to zone 9 and has absolutely outstanding fall color. There is also the Sawtooth Oak Quercus acutissima, hardy to zone 9 with yellow fall color. I'm sure there must be more.

I would recommend picking up a copy of the Sunset Western Garden book, they have come up with their own climate zones which are much more accurate for California than the USDA zones. They've got a fairly extensive list of plants in the book so once you figure out your zone then you can look up any trees that you're interested in and see if they would do well for you or not.

Here's an article to help you get started--the person who wrote this is in Gilroy so the summers are hot but not quite as hot as yours so some of the things may not work in your area, but at least it gives you somewhere to start: http://www.westernhort.org/articles_Schramm_fall%2347AA.html

Liquidambar styraciflua
Pistacia chinensis (caution: may be invasive?)

Resin

Calflora calls it invasive, but it's not officially on the list...it was evaluated a couple of years ago and they didn't list it. But my feeling would be that it probably is and it just hasn't quite spread far enough yet for them to fully understand its impact yet--I'd probably err on the side of not planting it.

Also just noticed that my link above doesn't work right...for some reason when I paste the address in it decides to change a few of the characters. So to find the article, go to www.westernhort.org then click on "articles" and scroll down to September 2007.

If you like Sugar Maples I would give a Shantung Maple a try. We have very hot summers over 100 degrees also and mine was still putting out new growth. Also, mine is the Fire Dragon cultivar.

Check out the following link.

http://www.metromaples.com/Shantung.htm

Thank you so much for all the help. I will try the Shantung and see what happens. I like the unusual. I want something that you won't see in every yard. It is tough here in the Clovis foothills. It seems everything that I like gets burned to a crisp in the summer. I look at the beautiful foliage in the Northeast and am envious!! Again, thank you for your help and Happy New Year everybody!!

Sweetgum???? Liquidambar styraciflua L.

Grows like a weed where I am and has very nice fall color but the gm balls can be a pain. Looks like you have enough room that the gum balls wouldn't be a problem. There is a varity that doesn't have the balls BTW.

The fruitless cultivar of sweetgum is called 'Rotundiloba' (sometimes incorrectly labeled 'Obtusiloba'). Hardy to -10º, but also very heat-tolerant with rounded leaf lobes (hence the name). Fall color varies from bright yellow to rich reddish-purple, most often a blend which is what makes sweetgums so beautiful. Originally found in the wild in North Carolina way back in 1930.

I have a couple of wild ones and if it gets cold enough they are a very pretty tree in the fall.

I was going to reccomend Sweet Gum also..it grows well here. I am not sure about a Japanese Maple..they are pretty in the fall.

Maples are another weed tree around here. I'm not even sure which ones keep popping up in my back yard. Believe one is a silver maple that simply won't die. A sugar maple is a full on northern tree. Personally I like evergreens. Wonder if a live oak would grow out in Cally???

I don't think the live oak that grows in the South does well here, but there are a number of nice CA native oaks that ought to do fine. I don't think they typically have nice fall color though, and some of them are very sensitive to summer water, so you have to be careful what you plant around them.

Buffaloroad, the Fruitless Mulberry has, as you doubtless know, stunning yellow leaves in the fall. Not the NE reds and oranges, but a yellow.

I do not, however, need to tell you that you see them in every other yard hereabouts on lots with houses built between 1945 and 1965. That's a lot of Fruitless Mulberries in town. I actually have two on the west side of my 1945-built house; perfect placement for such specimens.

Good luck. I share your envy but not the acreage to play with that you have [chuckling].

Linda, a Maineac by birth

Thanks everyone. As for the live oak. There everywhere up here,live oak, blue oak etc. but they don't get pretty until they bloom and there is not any fall color. I think I will try as many trees with color as I can to see what will work and then fill in with smoke bush (different colors) etc. We are now getting estimates on about 4 of the 7 acres for irrigation. I think that before I get to excited about the trees / plants etc. I will need to take care of these stupid gophers that are taking over!!