5 Colorful Trees You'll FALL in Love With (and where to find them)

Sweetgum: Burnet Woods  

Sweetgum has star-shaped leaves that are dark green in summer and bears alien-like hard spiked fruit. During the fall change, the leaves shift through brilliant shades of yellow and orange before turning strikingly vibrant shades of red and burgundy. You can spot many of these trees throughout Burnet Woods, one of Cincinnati’s oldest parks! 

Gingko: Fleischmann Gardens  

Gingko leaves have unique fan-shaped leaves that turn a phenomenal yellow color in the fall. It is common to see this tree in urban areas as they handle heat and pollution well. Fun fact, the earliest leaf fossil was that of the gingko tree and is 270 million years old! The best park in which to find these trees is Fleischmann Gardens, but you better go quick; they don’t hold their leaves very long. 

Dogwood: Mt Airy Arboretum  

Dogwood trees have four-seasons appeal with spring’s showy flowers, summer shade, autumn foliage and winter checkered bark. The close-grained bark of the dogwood was historically used for weaving in the textile industry. These brilliantly red and deep crimson leaves can be spotted throughout the 1,459 acres of the Mt. Airy Forest and Arboretum. 

Beech: California Woods  

Beech trees can easily be identified by their smooth, metallic gray bark and electric yellow autumn leaves. More than just an excellent shade tree, they also provide the perfect cozy home for a variety of wildlife such as raccoons and squirrels. If you’re hoping to take in the sights of these trees exploding in fall color, head over to California Woods Nature Preserve which is home to some stately beech trees. 

‘Autumn Purple’ Ash: Martin Luther King Drive 

Did you know that Cincinnati Parks maintains more than just parks? Our staff also care for 85,00 public street trees! At one time, 10% of those street trees were ash, but with the rise of the invasive Emerald Ash Borer, only a few hundred remain. The lucky few trees that survived still offer a rainbow display of color each fall including green, orange, yellow, red and purple. You can see some of Cincinnati’s only remaining ‘Autumn Purple’ ash trees lining MLK Drive between Victory Parkway and Gilbert Avenue.