Its colors
scarlet, crimson, wine red, purple
When it turns here
first color about Aug 18, 2026, at its best Sep 24, 2026, fading by Sep 28, 2026, bare by Oct 4, 2026 (estimate).
this year, by the model, the forest here peaks about Oct 7, 2026.
Model of Oct 27, 2026.
How long it holds
the sources give no figure for how long it holds its color.
Where it grows thickest
Swamps and wet ground in the south of the region, from southwestern Maine through New York and Pennsylvania to extreme southern Ontario; locally abundant but infrequent overall.
swamps and wet ground
its range outline comes to this page
By height
No northeastern figure in the Silvics chapter; in the region it keeps to swamps and their edges.
From the road
A narrow crown with branches at right angles to a straight trunk, wine red in swamps while the hills are green, and blocky bark like alligator hide on old trees.
Its pictures this autumn
Where to see it
pictures of it this autumn from …
- Boston, the Blue Hills & the harbor, MA · 1 picture, newest Oct 5, 2026
The sources’ own words
Blackgum begins to show brilliant scarlet branches in late August and the related dogwood is draped in brick-red by midSeptember.
Black gums and some red maples peak around October 1-10.
A narrow-crowned tree with right-angle branches that is restricted to swamps and adjacent areas in our region. Its leaves are small, oval and alternate, and the handsome foliage turns orange to wine-red in early to mid-October.
Some other outstanding trees for fall color are rather infrequent statewide, but may be locally abundant, like blackgum, which few people ever notice until mid October while travelling by swampy areas throughout central New York.
Black tupelo (figs. 1, 2) grows in the uplands and in alluvial stream bottoms from southwestern Maine to New York, to extreme southern Ontario, central Michigan, Illinois, and central Missouri, and south to eastern Oklahoma, eastern Texas, and southern Florida.
Gray-brown and shallowly, irregularly furrowed, on old stems it can become quite blocky, resembling alligator hide.