Wonderful pictures full of color jkom. One question about your sweetgum tree. Does this dwarf variety not have those sticky balls that fall all over the place and have new trees sprouting all over the place? They are considered by many that have the normal variety here in the south to be nusiance trees even with their brilliant foliage due to those darn sticky balls!! LOL There is a variety that is available here which does not have the sticky balls and the leaves are more rounded on the points--had one at the previous house but can't remember the cultivar.

Sorry, I keep misspelling liquidambAr as LiquidambEr..gggrrr.

ncvilledudes, this sweetgum is about 10 yrs old (estimating that it was at least 3 yrs old when I bought it as a container plant in 2002). It forms seed balls, but not many. I deliberately placed it in the middle of a garden bed to keep the roots away from the driveway/sidewalks, as sweetgums are notorious 'pavement lifters'. Although it's had every opportunity to sprout seedlings, it never has.

Note that my gardener had to special-order this tree; it wasn't available in standard nursery stock. It's Liquidambar styraciflua 'Variegata'.

There is a gumball-less variety of liquidambar - did you know about it? It's the cultivar 'Rotundiloba' which is fruitless. It's more a standard height though, 50', which is too tall for our modest urban lot.

Enjoyed your post. I love Japanese maples and have tried to grow several, all of which I have killed. :(

I once twisted my ankle on one of those sweetgum balls, and after 15 years, my ankle still gives me trouble! But the sweetgums are beautiful in fall. We have many of them. They are, obviously, not the 'special' kind.

Jkom, I did know about the stickyball-less variety. You must have missed that in my earlier post where I said I had one at my previous home but just couldn't remember the name. The 'Rotundiloba' variety must have been what I had since it had the more rounded shape on the tips of the leaves versus the more pointed ends. It still had a fair amount of color but perhaps not as colored as the standard type. I have heard that if you are gardening in the northern more colder zones that the standard variety doesn't develop any or fewer of the sticky balls. Don't know if that is true or not. Perhaps someone growing it in the colder regions would know.

Forgot to mention earlier that I also have a small gingko tree and its foliage is brilliant as well. Mine is supposed to be the male variety and I certainly hope so as I don't want the smelly fruit that develops on the female tree! LOL

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nckvilledudes, that's a gorgeous grouping! Wonderful colors!

Thanks jkom. It was even nicer a while later when the japanese maple to the far right in the picture right under the white lattice structure on the house was an orangey color and the Zelkova was more colored up but I never got a picture! :(

Nice fall color for CA. Japanese maples are pretty reliable and the sweetgum is pretty too. Hopefully it won't go gumball crazy after a few more years. But if it does, they are great for crafts!

Lovely fall color, there's nothing like it :). I've toyed with the thought of getting a Liquidambar or even an Oxydendron for their fall color which is really lovely, but, when you run out of room, you run out of room, sigh.

Annette