WINTER being the time to plant bare-rooted deciduous trees, I'm looking for ones with golden autumn leaves. I don't mean that sort of insipid pale yellow many trees fade to when the nights turn cold, or even those whose autumn colouring starts off yellow before turning red, like Pistacias and Liquidambars and many Maples.
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What I'm after is a rich, vibrant streak of guinea gold to contrast with autumn colouring trees that turn crimson and purple and orange-scarlet - something to jump out from the crowd and make a statement.
The Chinese Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo biloba, 12 metres) has wonderful, long lasting gold autumn colour. It's a slow-growing but large tree in time, and needs reasonably deep soil to perform well, but if you have the right spot for one it has everything going for it: a neat, conical shape, fan-shaped leaves exactly like those of a maidenhair fern, and fresh green foliage that turns a reliable deep butter yellow in autumn.
Buy a clonal male tree if you can - females bear exceptionally messy fruit, though not for many years. Or, try the fastigiate (columnar) form "Princeton Sentry" (11m), an all-male cultivar that is denser and narrower.
The Ginkgo is one of the earliest trees on the planet, the only surviving member of a family that evolved 250 million years ago and is now extinct in the wild apart from G. biloba in China. Plant one and imagine a dinosaur reaching into its upper branches for a nibble (contrary to the Jurassic Park monsters, most dinosaurs were vegetarian).
Our small colony of Silver Birches (Betula pendula, 12m) has pale gold autumn leaves but a puff of wind and they're gone. We'd have done better to have included a few Paper Birches, B. papyrifera (12m), which hold onto their deeper gold leaves for at least a week or two.
The Norway Maple ( Acer platanoides) has outstanding gold autumn colour but sadly it can attract borers and this may be why it's no longer readily available from growers.
Golden Robinia (R. pseudoacacia "Frisia") has white, wisteria-like pea flowers but be warned, it's liable to sucker if its roots are damaged by mowing.
Wide-spreading Golden Elm (Ulmus glabra "Lutescens", 10m) leafs out from pale lime in spring into striking greenish gold then turns bright yellow in autumn. It shouldn't sucker but again, don't dig anywhere near its roots.
The narrower, taller silvery variegated elm ( U. minor "Variegata", 20m) has cream speckled leaves turning bright yellow in autumn. All elms are prone to leaf fall in dry conditions without irrigation.
The pinnate leaves of Ash (Fraxinus) contrast well with the Elm's entire leaves. Golden Ash (F. excelsior "Aurea", 8m) is slow growing like all variegated plants (they have less green chlorophyll pigment for photosynthesis) but worth the wait.
Its striking gold bark with distinctive, contrasting black buds looks lovely in winter.
The American Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera, 13m) is a splendid tree, another slow grower and equally slow to produce its large, scented, greenish flowers that superficially resemble tulips.
Its large, lobed leaves turn rich gold in autumn. Like many North American trees it needs deep, well drained loamy soil and does best in high rainfall tablelands districts.
Several golden-autumn-colouring trees once widely planted are now declared weeds: Lombardy Poplars, Golden Willows and Box Elder Maple (Acer negundo). The Box Elder Maple cultivar "Kelly's Gold" and that other gilded beauty, Honey Locust (Gleditsia) "Sunburst" are also problematic.
However the Golden Poplar, (P. x euramericana "Manawatu Gold" (14m) has lime green leaves turning brilliant yellow and is thought to be sterile.
