Painting the garden red
Colours of the season that really warm the autumn garden and our hearts
As the days draw in, and flowers are at premium, the autumn garden relies on foliage for colour.
The reds, oranges and burnished purples of sweet gum, maple, oak, chokeberry, tupelo, serviceberry really warm the autumn garden and our hearts.
Let’s take a closer look at the red oak, sweet gum and black chokeberry that really prove their worth in my Niagara garden.
Red oak
(Quercus rubra)
The red oak ( Quercus rubra) is native to eastern Canada, found from east of Lake Superior to Nova Scotia; it is often planted as a landscape tree. This species grows with other broadleaf trees and is intolerant of shade and competition. In home gardens it is easily grown in average soil in full sun. It features a shallow acorn cup, reddish buds, the bark becomes deeply ridged as the tree matures.
Featuring a broad-spreading crown, the red oak can reach heights of 15 to 22 metres and is a quick grower. Large, dark, lustrous green leaves have toothed lobes and sharp points; the leaves turn brownish-red in autumn. Insignificant flowers appear in spring, followed by small acorns with a shallow cap in the early fall.
Aside from their graceful form and beautiful fall colour, oak trees are valued for supporting many forms of wildlife from mammals to birds and insects. According to Doug Tallamy, in “Bringing Nature Home,” “Oaks are the quintessential wildlife plants: no other plant genus supports more species of lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), thus providing more types of bird food, than the mighty oak.” It’s interesting to note that like squirrels, blue jays collect and bury acorns and are responsible for planting many oak trees in suitable ground. Red oak seedlings appear in the spring.
After losing the ash tree on our boulevard to the Emerald Ash borer several years ago, a red oak now graces the boulevard. I would hesitate to call it fast growing, although it may take off once it has a few more years of root development under its belt. This year, several tiny acorns appeared in late September and I discovered a polyphemus moth (the size of my hand), and known to frequent oak trees, this summer. Tallamy calls a similar find on his own property, “a true entomological milestone.”
Sweet gum
(Liquidambar styraciflua)
Some 20 years ago, I was introduced to a small, conical tree with glossy green leaves by Carl Pallek, “the sweet gum tree has exceptional fall colour.” Pallek’s respected Virgil nursery was closing and he was clearing out all of his stock, little did I know at the time that I had just met my very favourite tree. The sapling was tucked into the trunk of my Grand Am, along with a star magnolia and several old-fashioned rose bushes.
With great expectations, the tree was planted toward the back of the property, visible from the kitchen windows, and with the hope it would eventually offer a little privacy from the busy street behind our house — it has done that and much more.
Easily grown in a variety of soils, it only asks for a spot in full sun. The sweet gum ( Liquidambar styraciflua) is a low-maintenance deciduous shade tree that is native from Connecticut to Florida and Missouri further south to Texas, Mexico and Central America. It typically grows to 18 to 24 metres tall with a straight trunk, and is not bothered by pests or disease.
Our sweet gum had a pretty, pyramidal form when it was young. As it matured, it developed a wide, rounded crown and glossy, deep green, star shaped leaves, that are fragrant when bruised. Fall colour is a brilliant mixture of yellows, oranges, purples and reds that hold on well into the autumn.
The branchlets on our sweet gum have distinctive corky ridges, the grey-brown bark is deeply furrowed. Non-showy flowers appear the late spring, giving way to the infamous gum balls which are hard and bristly. Gum balls mature to a dark brown and remain on the tree through the winter. The prickly gum balls can be a nuisance, but they are not an issue in our garden.
The wood of the sweet gum has been used for flooring, furniture and home interiors. In the past, the gum was used for chewing gum, incense, perfumes, folk medicines and flavourings.
Black chokeberry
(Aronia melanocarpa)
This tree is easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Plants have a wide range of soil tolerance including boggy soils. Best fruit production usually occurs in full sun. Remove root suckers to prevent colonial spread.
Black chokeberry ( Aronia melanocarpa) is a woody shrub with an open, upright, spreading form. This native shrub typically grows one to two metres tall and can be found in low woods and moist thickets but occasionally in dry upland areas. It has happily settled in our southfacing border where it anchors a colony of Joe Pye weed, daylilies and perennial geraniums. It is blanketed in pretty white flowers in May, just as the Johnson’s Blue geranium blankets the ground with violet-blue flowers. All summer it features glossy dark green leaves with finely toothed margins; in the autumn, it ramps up the display with clusters of black berries (blueberry size) and showy red and purple foliage.
The name of chokeberry is a nod to the bitter taste of the fruits which are said to cause choking by most people who try them — birds even leave the fruit intact. Surprisingly, the bitter fruit makes a tasty jam. Our chokeberries stay on the bush adding interest to the winter garden; cut branches make interesting additions to fall bouquets.
If your garden could use a blast of red to warm the October garden, red oak, sweet gum and black chokeberry make interesting, easy care additions to the home garden.