That's called American Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Summer photo

Can't be certain without a close up of the leaves. Sweetgum have star shaped leaves and in the Fall produce distinctive balls that are hollow and have many small openings.

It's definitely 100% a Sweetgum tree, I can see a typical leaf in the top right of the fall color one. That's also the typical fall coloring of Sweetgum.

I agree with the Liquidambar - that form, leaf shape and range of fall coloring is pretty distinctive. And they really do hold their leaves for a very long time, sometimes well into winter.

That's a pretty wide driveway in the photo and the trees appear to be planted a good distance from the edges. That's a good thing, as sweetgums tend to develop a lot of surface roots that easily lift paving. Plan accordingly.

Probably my favorite tree which I don't have.

IME, for whatever reason, sweetgums do not produce prodigious amounts of the spiky seed balls here on the west coast. Certainly nothing like I have seen them in the midwest. These are commonly used for street tree plantings here and one seldom encounters issues with the seed balls.

Ah, gotcha! The sweet gums here in the southeast put out "sticker balls" like crazy.

and our Sweetgums aren't that beautiful but the do have great fall color.

Mine look like saguaro cactus and then turn yellow in the fall. Seems like they dump a bucketfull of those stupid gumballs everyday. Just when I thought it was safe to walk.....

"sweetgums do not produce prodigious amounts of the spiky seed balls here on the west coast" Just curious why that would be true? I assume there are an adequate number of planted sweetgum trees on the west coast to allow for cross pollination.

Maybe they are cultivars, choosen for not producing much seed?

Good thought huggorm, but there are only a couple of seedless or nearly seedless sweetgum cultivars, most of the cultivars produce seed.

In regions with cooler summers, the seed balls may not fully ripen. But I assume much of the west coast would have adequate summer warmth.

Wouldn't a seedless cultivar be unstable? I have a 60+ year old cornus florida 'rubra' that has never produced seed. This year, it's branches are loaded with the red berries. Couldn't the same thing happen to these seedless sweetgums?

I don't think the trees in the photo are quite old enough to produce the seed balls yet, but it won't be long.

Those balls aren't what aggravates me about them, it's the suckering from the roots. The least little injury to one of those exposed roots will trigger suckering.

Logan: I've heard that Rotundiloba is reliably seedless, although there are reports that individual branches will occasionally revert. Cherokee and Happidaze are generally considered seedless.

Thank you all for your help. My family says they do have those seed balls and they are kinda annoying to pick up, but I think they would be worth it for the beautiful fall color.

Maybe there is a cultivar of sweetgum worth planting. I hate mine because the ground is covered in those evil little gumballs. The roots do sucker, but if you remove the whole root you won't have to worry about the suckering. Or better yet, remove the whole tree. It shouldn't take them too long to crack up the driveway.

"sweetgums do not produce prodigious amounts of the spiky seed balls here on the west coast"

In this part of the west coast (So Cal) they sure do.

There are several great Liquidambar cultivars. Check out 'Gumball'.

srennee, your kids win the cuteness of the year award, but the sweetgums(?) don't.