Orange Fall Color – Types Of Trees With Orange Leaves In Autumn

Sun Shining On Trees With Orange Leaves
(Image credit: alex_ugalek)

Trees with orange fall foliage bring enchantment to your garden just as the last of the summer flowers are fading. You may not get orange fall color for Halloween, but then again you may, depending on where you live and what trees with orange leaves you select. What trees have orange leaves in fall? Read on for some suggestions.

What Trees Have Orange Leaves in Fall?

Autumn tops the list of many gardeners’ favorite seasons. The laborious planting and tending work is done, and you don’t have to expend any effort to enjoy your backyard’s stunning fall foliage. That is, if you selected and planted trees with orange fall foliage. Not every tree offers flaming foliage in autumn. The best trees with orange leaves are deciduous. Their foliage blazes as they wilt and die during summer’s end. What trees have orange leaves in fall? Many deciduous trees can fit into that category. Some reliably offer orange fall color. Other trees’ leaves may turn orange, red, purple or yellow, or a fiery mix of all these shades.

Trees with Orange Fall Foliage

If you want to plant deciduous trees with reliable orange fall color, consider the smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria). These trees thrive in sunny sites in USDA zones 5-8, offering small yellow blossoms in early summer. In autumn, the leaves blaze orange-red before they fall. Another good option for trees with orange leaves: Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki). You’ll not only get vivid leaves in autumn. The trees also produce dramatic orange fruit that decorate the tree branches like holiday ornaments much of the cold season. If you haven’t heard of the stewartia (Stewartia pseudocamellia), it’s time to take a look. It definitely makes the short list of trees with orange fall foliage for USDA zones 5-8. For big gardens only, the stewartia can rise to 70 feet (21 m.) tall. Its attractive, dark green leaves turn orange, yellow and red as winter approaches. The common name “serviceberry” may call to mind a shrub but, in fact, this small tree (Amelanchier canadensis) shoots up to 20 feet (6 m.) in USDA zones 3-7. You can’t go wrong with serviceberry as trees with orange leaves in autumn—the foliage colors are amazing. But it’s also got lovely white blossoms in spring and great summer fruit. If you live in a warmer area, you’ll love the garden classic, Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) that thrives in USDA zones 6-9. The lacy leaves glow with fiery fall color, along with many other maple varieties.

Teo Spengler
Writer

Teo Spengler has been gardening for 30 years. She is a docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Her passion is trees, 250 of which she has planted on her land in France.