Compact yet strong, pistache is also beautiful

The days grow shorter and cooler by degrees, and soon it will be time for autumn to snap its fingers and strut its gorgeous stuff. We're fortunate to live in a region that gets nice fall color. It's not the mountains, but we do pretty well.

Having trees and shrubs with autumn color can really enhance the season. Just imagine pulling into the driveway to a flame-kissed arboreal goddess spreading her branches of apricot and cherry.

Would you like to add some of that magic to your own garden or home? If you have room for a medium-size tree, consider the Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis). Just as it sounds, Chinese pistache is a member of the pistachio family, and it has many positive qualities.

For starters, it doesn't take over the universe by getting 60 feet tall. Instead it grows to a more modest 25 to 30 feet with a canopy of similar spread, making it a great size for most modest gardens and landscapes. This rugged and durable tree shrugs off poor soil conditions and drought. It's tough. It's "parking lot tough" and does well even in those crummy, compacted conditions. Heat tolerant, stress tolerant and pollution tolerant, Chinese pistache resists just about anything that doesn't have a chainsaw attached to it, including pests and disease, even damaging winds.

Now if you want ethereal spring blooms that make you feel transported to a Japanese flower festival, then you're out of luck. Chinese pistache produces clusters of pleasant little white flowers, but heck if I ever notice them when they're blooming. I'm only certain that they flower because the trees, female ones anyway, produce fruit, a sure sign that flowers have happened.

These attractive fruits are produced in loose, airy clusters of red "berries" that mature to dark blue and are enjoyed by birds. You can also use them for seasonal table decorations and arrangements, assuming they get produced in the first place. If your pistache doesn't bear fruit, you may have a male tree or a female tree that doesn't have a boyfriend in the neighborhood and thus does not get pollinated.

The tree's foliage sets it apart. Handsomely divided into long, pointed leaflets, the lustrous bright green leaves have a sort of coarsely feathered effect. They clothe a neatly rounded to oval canopy of branches, resulting in a nicely symmetrical tree.

All this aside and saving the best for last, few plants, except some in the maple clan, can surpass Chinese pistache for stunning fall color. Around mid-October to mid-November, bright mango orange tones maturing to cherry reds to light up the landscape in a glowingly beautiful end to the season.

If you decide to investigate this tree at your local nursery, don't be surprised if your first impression doesn't knock your socks off. Immature Chinese pistache can look, ahem, piddly in the nursery pot, and they didn't garner the moniker "Ugly Duckling" in the nursery industry for nothing. Remind yourself that the ugly duckling transformed into a swan of gorgeous plumage and in the same way your pistache go from straggler to symmetrical blazing autumn beauty. It won't take too long, either, since the tree grows 1 to 2 feet a year (2 to 3 feet a year if you're extra nice to it). If you get a tree from the nursery that has just one stem and no branches, follow the pruning tip to help your tree branch properly. This is optional, however. You can also just sit back (in between watering it to establish it, of course) and enjoy watching your autumn swan emerge.