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Some of Our Favorite Fall Trees!

Fall is a wonderful time of year. The weather cools off and the days slowly get shorter. It’s a perfect time of the year to take walks and be outside and enjoy nature. During Fall, we also witness the colors of the landscape changing right before our eyes. The rich green leaves and brightly colored flowers on trees and shrubs give way to many interesting colors - vibrant red, fiery yellow, and rich orange. These colors create spectacular yet peaceful visuals that mark the season. With cooler temperatures, Fall is also a great time of year to plant a living tree memorial of a loved one who’s passed with The Living Urn’s biodegradable urn and planting system.

Our Favorite Fall Trees

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Here in Denver, Colorado, where The Living Urn is based, we are lucky as our parks, cityscapes, and the nearby mountains showcase trees that offer a great range of colors in Fall that light up the environment! As tree and nature lovers, we look forward to it every year!

With the upcoming Fall season, we wanted to highlight some of our favorite Fall trees:

Bald Cypress

bald cypress

Although this beauty is native to the South, the Bald Cypress can be found all over the United States and can grow in a wide range of planting zones. It is a fast growing tree and also long-lived one - some recorded bald cypress trees are more than 500 years old. It also takes an appealing pyramidal form when young and turns more oval in shape with age. 

The Bald Cypress is a deciduous conifer and has beautiful feathery foliage, which it drops in the Fall and before Winter sets in. However, before shedding its needles, the long thin leave shift from a vibrant green color to a majestic red and orange color, making it a true Fall beauty!

Sugar Maple

Sugar Maple

The Sugar Maple is a Fall favorite for many people. Famous as the source of maple syrup, this tree is native to different parts of the U.S. and can thrive in a wide range of growing zones (zones 3 to 8). This colorful tree leafs out in the Spring and showcases several shades of green before turning yellow to orange in the summer and finally a beautiful and intense orange and red in the Fall. The color diversity of this tree makes it enjoyable to view all year-round, but in the Fall it can be truly breathtaking.

Red Maple

Red Maple

The Red Maple is a true American beauty and can be found in a wide range of growing zones all over the United States. This native tree is loved for being fast growing, as well as its symmetrical form, smooth and light bark and, of course, its amazing Fall color!

The leaves of the Red Maple in the Fall can be bright pale yellow, orange, brilliant scarlet, or maroon. These various colors can depend on the Summer weather and Fall climate. Single individual trees generally have all of their leaves a similar color, but different maple trees can be strikingly different. Often the extremes of variation can be seen on adjacent trees, and a single pure stand of Red Maples present a diverse palette of color making them a sight to see!

Aspen

Aspen

Here in Colorado, we look forward to seeing the Aspen trees change colors each Fall season! In the nearby Rocky Mountains, these truly amazing trees grow amongst the green pine and spruce trees and, when they turn from green to gold, they present a brilliant contrast of colors and a true marvel of nature.

Aspen trees begin changing their color from green to yellow gold in the beginning of September in the higher elevations, with these color changes appearing at lower elevations as the season progresses and the seasonal temperatures drop into October. 

Sourwood

Sourwood

The Sourwood is a beautiful native tree that impresses in all seasons. This unique tree is an excellent choice as a smaller variety with a broadly conical form along with graceful branches that lightly droop. Even with its glossy bright green leaves in the Spring, delightfully fragrant flowers that open in mid-Summer, and hanging racemes of fruit capsules in the Winter, its expression of color in the Fall outshines them all! Shades of reds, yellows, oranges and even purples can be enjoyed on this beautiful tree in the Fall!

Northern Red Oak

Red Oak Tree

The Northern Red Oak tree is a popular tree planted throughout the Midwest and Northern states. It presents a dense crown and beautiful yellow and red colors in the Fall. This special tree also provides great value to wildlife (its acorns are a favorite food of blue jays, wild turkeys, deer, raccoons and black bears). This special and beautiful tree is the state tree of New Jersey!

Japanese Maple

Japanese Maple

Japanese Maples are very popular as they are smaller trees that are attractive all throughout the year. In the Fall, these wonderful trees offer their most dramatic views, with unexpected and beautiful autumn leaf color combinations!

Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgo Biloba

Also commonly called the maidenhair tree, Ginkgo Biloba trees have lofty, open branches full of distinctive leaves shaped like an open fan. They are generally very durable trees and are resistant to disease, insects, and pollution, and also tolerate a wide range of soil conditions. Plant historians believe the Ginkgo is the sole survivor of a set of ancient plants that lived millions of years ago. They are slow growers and can live for hundreds of years. For these reasons, the Gingko Biloba is seen as a symbol of longevity and endurance.

While they are appealing to view all year, the Ginkgo’s greenish yellow leaves turn a wonderful yellow color in the Fall, making these unique trees a sight to behold and one of our favorites!

Eastern Redbud

Redbud Tree

A smaller-sized tree, the Eastern Redbud is beautiful year-round, especially in the Fall where its heart-shaped leaves turn a brilliant yellow! It also displays amazing color in other seasons - in the Spring rosy pink and purple blossoms appear and cover the tree and in the Summer its heart-shaped leaves turn from a reddish color to green. This special tree is also known for its unique and highly irregular branching patterns and how it is highly resilient and grows and thrives in a variety of climates and soil conditions.

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