The US has 2 brilliant fall trees not native to Europe: the sugar maple ( *Acer saccharum)* and the black gum (*Nyssa Sylvatica)* that provide gorgeous colors of red and orange that make New England so famous. The red maple (*Acer Rubrum*) also provides brilliant reds to the landscape.
The Norway maple (*Acer platanoides)* turns a lovely amber, but is not as bright. Oak trees with a few exceptions turn brown and are not as attractive. In the European cities, the London planetree (*Platanus x acerifolia)* dominates. Its leaves turn brown and papery in the fall.
I think it’s climate. New England and eastern Canada (where I live) have a Continental climate with a very pronounced summer and winter. As a side effect autumn is compressed and all the trees change at the same time. Right now it’s amazing, but in a few weeks it will be over. When I lived in the UK individual trees looked great but the colour change was spread out from September to Christmas so you never had all the trees in colour at the same time.
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