"Aprils have never meant much to me, autumns seem that season of beginning …" Truman Capote said of this languid season when the maples come into their glory. It is also the season of beginning for planting trees.

Leaf color is indeed variable from year to year because it is so dependent upon weather patterns. Look closely to see how subtle color differences distinguish individuals of the very same species as well. Our brightest groves of maples show this variation with some redder, others pinker and still more inclining toward orange.

This is proof of the variability of wild trees that mature from nature's self-sown seeds, which appear serendipitously in the forest. Each one is the product of sexual reproduction in which a unique genetic profile reveals itself in the fall leaf colors. These genes dictate the amount of two pigments present in each tree.

The science behind the leaf

The carotenoids are orange or yellow and anthocyanins are red and purple. These are ever-present in the leaf, but the presence of green chlorophyll is dominant during the growing season. Carotenoids and anthocyanin colors only become visible after the green chlorophyll declines at season's end in response to colder nights and shorter days.

For many species of trees grown in our landscapes from coast to coast, certain individuals have proved to be overly endowed with higher levels of these color-generating pigments. Growers realized that such a tree could become a hot-selling item due to this reliability. That tree's unique genetic makeup could be reproduced by cloning to make more trees with identical DNA.

To distinguish their discovery, the growers list the discoveries by genus and species followed by a varietal name expressed in single quotes. For example: Acer rubrum 'October Glory' is just one named variety of red maple.

When 'October Glory' or any other variety is propagated, it can be done in different ways. Invariably the growers choose one that demands the least amount of the parent plant material to yield the greatest number of new trees for the market. The most rapid are rooted cuttings, which demand the most parent material. More time-consuming are maple rootstocks grafted or budded with just a small amount of parent material. The most efficient method using minimal parent material is tissue culture, which is cloning on a cellular level to yield thousands of identical trees. However, due to the very small size at the beginning, often just a few cells, this method takes the longest.

When to buy

The best way to ensure your new tree will produce reliable fall color is to buy and plant it in the fall while displaying its potential in the real world. Catalog or online photographs are unreliable.

If you visit a nursery during the fall color season, you'll see a tree's performance in your climate zone. If it's a seed-grown tree, know that these will be brighter in some years depending on the weather. When you find a named varietal tree, then you not only witness its color potential, but you'll know it will perform equally well in the future.

Planting fall color trees in autumn is ideal. This gives the young tree all winter and spring before it must withstand the rigors of a hot or very dry summer.

If you can plant but one tree, take your time to find just the right individual or select a named variety for the color intensity you have in mind. If you get it right, that tree will set off your home landscape reliably each year.