Wildfire Black Gum

A vibrant display of changing color

The Wildfire Black Gum or Tupelo tree is a  favorite shade tree. These nativars are hardy, easy to care for, maintain a consistent shape and provide stunning multi-season fire-red foliage. In the spring the first leaves of this tree emerge a brilliant fire-wagon red, which are beautiful on their own, but can providing a stunning backdrop for other specimen trees like dogwoods or redbuds. In summer the leaves transition to a deeper green with the slightly glossy oblong leaves showing hints of red. The bark of a younger tree is smooth almost like a cherry and gets rougher with age. In fall, The black gum often holds out a little later for its show, but when transitions you can’t mistake it. Leaves change from green/orange quickly to red with mottled darker red splotches that make it deeper in color, but simultaneously more brilliant than many of the maple cultivars.

Attractive glossy, dark green leaves turn fluorescent spectrum of colors in fall. Alligator-like textured bark is dark gray to almost black.