Fall in Suburbia

Seeing fall color “in the wild” is fantastic but most of us spend the majority of our time within just a few miles of our house. And for many of us, those areas are business parks, shopping strips, and subdivision entrances – the hallmarks of suburbia. As I drove the 10-15 miles to visit the grandbaby this past weekend, I passed many of these landscaped areas, and I took note of what was displaying good fall color.

Red maples in a development

By far the most prevalent tree appears to be red maples (Acer rubrum) and they were in glorious form. I’ve written about parking lot maples before, so click over to this blog entry to see pictures and my opinions about which cultivars and hybrids you might be seeing. Sticking these guys into parking lots and along streets just might be the most successful native plant usage effort ever (although muhly grass is coming up in that department and is especially noticeable now). Red maple trees are handsome, the color is fantastic, and the debris (fallen leaves and fruits) is not cumbersome.

A nice parking lot mix: oaks and maples

Speaking of cumbersome debris, I really have to question the decision to use oaks in parking lots. I have written about this many times because I love to find new ones, but honestly, the acorns have got to be hazardous for customers! I hit up some of my favorite parking lots this past weekend to get acorns for a seed swap at the native plant society meeting. I see it as a service to old ladies to get those acorns out of the parking spaces for them. Oaks can have great color - goldens and reds - and you’re probably seeing some of them and will continue to as they change color through November. Here are some of my previous parking lot oak blogs if you’re wondering what’s out there:

Parking Lot Oaks

Parking Lot Oaks continued

The Visiting Oaks

Taxodium distichum near Marta

Some of the more unusual trees that I spotted in the area included a lovely group of sugar maples (Acer saccharum) at a neighborhood. The pure, clear orange color is always a good indicator, but the way they drop their leaves (starting at the top) and the dark trunk are two good clues too.

Another shopping center had invested in bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) trees. As a deciduous conifer it offers a lovely bit of fall color. I was surprised one year to find a row of black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) trees at a business park. The fall color was so deeply red and consistent that I am sure they are cultivars. Like the red maples, leaf drop would be very unobtrusive and the birds eat all the fruits before they ever hit the ground.

So while you’re running errands or going to work, have a look at what’s planted nearby. I’m always grateful for every native tree that gets the job over a crape myrtle or other import. Like our yards, these areas can help provide a little more native back into the mix for the local ecosystem.