9931
Trees Planted
By Cynthia Lauer
One fall season years ago, I enrolled in a conversational French class. The teacher, who was from France, remarked on how special the month of October was in Ontario. Despite France’s similar latitude and climate, he had never seen such foliage colours. France simply doesn’t have the tree species that produce the spectacular fall colours for which Ontario’s native trees are famous. Our fall tree display attracts observers from around the world.
The best way to write about native trees for fall colour is to write as little as possible. I offer no supplementary information on these trees. Instead, I offer only a list of species organized alphabetically by fall colour. I chose open access photos that represent the range of fall foliage from the blazing red maple to the fiery orange pin cherry to the brilliant gold of the cherry birch. The adage couldn’t be truer: pictures are worth a thousand words.
Happy viewing!
RED–PURPLE
- Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica)
- Hawthorne (Craetagus species)
- Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago)
- Pin Cherry (Prunus pensylvanica)
- Pin Oak (Quercus palustris)
- Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
- Red Oak (Quercus rubra)
- Sassafras (Sassafras albidium)
- Serviceberries (Amelanchier canadensis; A. arborea; A. laevis)
- Shumard Oak (Quercus shumardii)
- Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
- White Oak (Quercus alba)
ORANGE–COPPER
- American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)
- Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica)
- Highbush Cranberry (Viburnum opulus)
- Large-Toothed Aspen (Populus grandidentata)
- Mountain Ash (Sorbus americana)
- Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago)
- Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra)
- Pin Oak (Quercus palustris)
- Red Oak (Quercus rubra)
- Sassafras (Sassafras albidium)
- Serviceberries (Amelanchier canadensis; A. arborea; A. laevis)
- Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
YELLOW–GOLD
- Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica)
- Cherry Birch (Betula lenta)
- Gray Birch (Betula populifolia)
- Ironwood (Ostrya virginiana)
- Large-Toothed Aspen (Populus grandidentata)
- Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra)
- Sassafras (Sassafras albidium)
- Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
- Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor)
- Tamarack (Larix laricina)
- Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides)
- Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)
- White/Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera)
- Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis)
A Living Green Barrie volunteer since 2025, Cynthia Lauer, PhD is a member of Simcoe County Master Gardeners and a regular contributor to The Gardener magazine. Her work is AI-free.
