Some Maple Tree Fall Color

There are few trees that are more colorful in the fall than maples!  The Acer genus really has cornered the market on autumn brilliance.  That’s not to say that there aren’t other trees just as dazzling but its hard to actually beat maples for the color show this time of year.  The colors they show range from gold to red and every shade in between.  Here’s a look at a few maples I took pictures of yesterday.

This mature maple off in the distance really stands out long after the hackberries and other early leaf droppers have lost their leaves.

This red maple was planted by my dad several years ago.  It’s grown quite a bit over the last several years.  Dad planted a lot of trees in his yard.  He wanted to develop a forest like atmosphere around his home.

Of course there are Japanese maples too!  This one is loaded with seeds which are called samaras.  I’ve collected quite a few Japanese maple seeds to stratify and sow over the winter and spring.  Japanese maples grown from seed do not always look the same as the parent plant.  Some varieties come extremely close while others don’t.  It never hurts to experiment though!  One thing I hope to try in the future is grafting and for that I need a good root stock.

There’s more fall color to come!  I hope you’ll join me in sharing fall color where you are through the 2012 Fall Color Project!