A double-fisted bouquet of colorful autumn leaves and bright ornamental crabapples provided inspiration for a fall color feature on Portland’s popular Sunday gardening show, In the Garden with Mike Darcy. The segment aired October 30, on Portland’s KATU Channel 2.

Autumn leaves earned air time on Darcy’s popular Saturday morning radio show when Mike and his guest, Nancy Buley (marketing and communications director for J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co.), talked trees during the live, three-hour broadcast on KXL Newsradio 750-AM

Most of the bright yellow autumn leaves of our native maples, Acer macrophyllum, had already fallen to the floor of a forested park near Darcy’s home. So, when we got the invitation to talk about the beautiful fall colors that abound in the Northwest at this time of year, Nancy headed for the J. Frank Schmidt Jr. Arboretum and clipped branches from the best and the brightest trees of the moment.

Four minutes of videotape can’t possibly do justice to the beauty of autumn, but Mike and Nancy managed to highlight nine cultivars during the five-minute television segment, plus additional fall standouts during the radio broadcast. 

Details and photos of featured trees are posted in our News & Notes section and the In the Garden with Mike Darcy section of the KATU website. You can also learn more about these trees by contacting your favorite garden center. Our wholesale nursery serves a national customer base, including these excellent garden centers that offer our trees to the local gardening community. Happy planting!