10 trees and shrubs, the weeks each one colors, and how to tell them apart. From volunteer observers across Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia and West Virginia; updated Sep 27.
Which trees change color first in the Southern Appalachians?
In a typical fall across the Southern Appalachians, flowering dogwood turns first: by the week of Sep 22–28, at least a quarter of volunteer observations show half or more of the leaves colored. White oak and northern red oak come last, around Oct 27–Nov 2. Based on USA National Phenology Network observations, 2020–2025.
Each strip runs 13 weeks, Sep 1 to Nov 30, in the color the tree turns: the stronger the week, the more observations with half or more of the leaves colored. The leaf marks its week of most color; the outlined week is this week; dashed means too few observations.
All the numbers
Percent half or more colored, week by week
The Southern Appalachians, falls 2020–2025
Share of volunteer observations with half or more of the leaves colored, by species and week, the Southern Appalachians, 2020–2025
Species
Sep 1
Sep 8
Sep 15
Sep 22
Sep 29
Oct 6
Oct 13
Oct 20
Oct 27
Nov 3
Nov 10
Nov 17
Nov 24
Flowering dogwood
11
11
20
27
28
38
51
61
62
53
50
32
20
Yellow buckeye
3
12
20
22
31
23
28
21
8
11
3
5
Tuliptree
2
1
6
4
12
31
33
42
32
27
19
13
12
Sweet birch
0
0
0
2
6
18
44
55
35
17
4
2
9
Eastern redbud
3
2
6
4
10
15
29
39
45
35
20
17
13
Red maple
1
1
1
3
5
11
24
37
34
30
16
14
8
Sugar maple
4
2
4
6
7
15
23
40
59
57
44
28
26
American hornbeam
0
1
7
4
7
9
20
28
45
42
33
7
22
White oak
1
1
1
3
2
7
9
21
34
44
52
43
19
Northern red oak
0
0
2
2
3
5
9
20
37
37
56
48
37
under 5%
5–14%
15–29%
30–44%
45% or more
this week
Read it down the columns: the species at the top turn first. Numbers are the percent of observations with half or more of the leaves colored that week, from 220–532 volunteer sites a week across 6 states; a blank means fewer than 30 observations. Street and garden trees (ginkgo, apple, Norway maple) are left out. Data: USA National Phenology Network (CC BY 4.0).
Leaves. Large, simple leaves in opposite pairs, usually 2 to 6 inches long.
Where it grows. From central Florida north to southwestern Maine, and west to central Michigan, Missouri and eastern Texas.
Size. A shrub or small tree with a broad, rounded crown, commonly 16 to 49 feet tall. In the South it can reach 40 feet with an 18-inch trunk; in the North it is more often a many-branched shrub 10 to 13 feet tall.
In the Southern Appalachians. Coloring from about Sep 22–28; most color Oct 27–Nov 2 (62% of observations half or more colored).
Same tree, other regions
New England: most color Sep 29–Oct 5, 4 weeks earlier
Leaves. Alternate leaves with a distinctive tulip-like shape.
Where it grows. Eastern North America, from Vermont west through southern Ontario and Michigan, and south to Louisiana and northern Florida.
Size. One of the straightest and tallest forest trees: up to 200 feet tall and more than 10 feet across. Long-lived.
In the Southern Appalachians. Coloring from about Oct 6–12; most color Oct 20–26 (42% of observations half or more colored). This fall, Sep 15–21: 5%, against a typical 6%.
Where it grows. From New Jersey and Pennsylvania west to southern Michigan and southeastern Nebraska, and south to eastern Texas and central Florida.
Size. A small tree or shrub, 25 to 50 feet tall at maturity, the lower figure being closer to typical, with a flat to rounded crown. Its seed pods are flat, 1.5 to 3.9 inches long. Can bear pods by age 5 and keeps reproducing up to about 75 years.
In the Southern Appalachians. Coloring from about Oct 13–19; most color Oct 27–Nov 2 (45% of observations half or more colored).
Where it grows. One of the most widely distributed trees in eastern North America: from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia west to Minnesota, and south to Texas and southern Florida.
Size. Usually 30 to 90 feet tall, with a trunk up to 4 feet across. Outlives most of the quick trees that move into open, disturbed ground, but usually drops out as a forest grows old. It can bear seed as young as 4.
In the Southern Appalachians. Coloring from about Oct 20–26; most color Oct 20–26 (37% of observations half or more colored). This fall, Sep 15–21: 0%, against a typical 1%.
Where it grows. From Nova Scotia and New Brunswick west to Manitoba, south to northeastern Texas and Georgia, and up the Appalachians into New England.
Size. Usually 90 to 120 feet tall with a trunk 30 to 36 inches across; the biggest pass 130 feet and 5 feet across. Long-lived: trees can reach 300 to 400 years.
In the Southern Appalachians. Coloring from about Oct 20–26; most color Oct 27–Nov 2 (59% of observations half or more colored).
Same tree, other regions
New England: most color Oct 13–19, 2 weeks earlier
Where it grows. From central Maine west to northern Minnesota, and south to eastern Texas and central Florida.
Size. A small tree, usually 30 to 40 feet tall; the Southeast's record tree was 75 feet. Slow-growing and short-lived; it bears seed from about age 15.
In the Southern Appalachians. Coloring from about Oct 20–26; most color Oct 27–Nov 2 (45% of observations half or more colored).
Where it grows. From southwest Maine to northern Florida, west into Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and south to eastern Texas.
Size. Commonly 60 to 80 feet tall, spreading; on good sites more than 100 feet tall and over 5 feet across. Slow-growing and long-lived, up to 600 years.
In the Southern Appalachians. Coloring from about Oct 27–Nov 2; most color Nov 10–16 (52% of observations half or more colored). This fall, Sep 15–21: 3%, against a typical 1%.
Same tree, other regions
New England: most color Oct 27–Nov 2, 2 weeks earlier
Where it grows. Much of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada: from Quebec and Nova Scotia south to Georgia and Alabama, and west through Minnesota and Iowa to eastern Oklahoma.
Size. The tallest and fastest-growing oak: commonly 65 to 98 feet tall with a trunk 2 to 3 feet across, and on the best sites up to 160 feet and 8 feet across. Usually first bears acorns at about 25, but most trees don't produce them in quantity until about 50.
In the Southern Appalachians. Coloring from about Oct 27–Nov 2; most color Nov 10–16 (56% of observations half or more colored).
Same tree, other regions
New England: most color Oct 27–Nov 2, 2 weeks earlier
Leaf drawings are ours, simplified. Colors, leaves, ranges and sizes from the Forest Service pages above, in our own words; range maps from Little's Atlas of United States Trees (Forest Service FEIS). Where a source says nothing, the card shows only our observations.
