There are 80 oak tree species in North America and a dozen can be be counted on for a consistent brilliant autumn leaf display. Oaks represent the most diverse-colored leaf trees in the forest and are prolific in the eastern United States. Oak leaf color comes in mainly browns and reds with rarely an exceptional orange. The oak leaf can have mixed greens, browns and reds on the same tree.
White oak leaves display a rather dull red, brown, bronze combination of color while red oaks turn a red to greenish yellow or brown leaf. Scarlet oak, a member of the red oak family, exemplifies the beauty of oaks during fall and often used in the landscape.
The drab brown, bronze and more persistent green leaves are usually displayed by black oaks, live oaks and water oaks. They are less often considered for planting for fall color.
