fall color
- Subject: fall color
- From: Linda L Wallpe l*@juno.com
- Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 12:15:08 -0400
Unlike parts of the U.S., this year in the Ohio Valley we had a cool
summer with lots of rain. We were spared the effects of Isabel. I
thought it would translate to an exceptional autumn. Wrong.
The Norway Maple leaves are smaller than normal and instead of the trees
turning completely gold at one time, the leaves are half green, half
yellow and full of seeds. In a normal season, the rooms on the south
side of my house glow from the leaf color. Not this year.
The ash trees have hardly any purple in them, something we usually see in
the top canopy.
The Red Oak just turned brown, no color at all. In other seasons it has
been a beautiful red.
The Serviceberry and Weeping Cherries are still green.
On the other hand, my old red dogwood (C. florida) has been beautifully
red for more than a month and only in today's rain has it lost any
leaves. I've been amazed at their longevity.
The Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) have been their normal lime yellow and
the Yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea) a pure gold.
The Virginia Creeper drips through a pine and spruce visible from my
workroom. It is a magnificent mahogany red.
The Pin Oak next door is dropping scads of acorns this year, many of them
in the street. An 8 point buck spent an hour eating out there the other
evening. The 17 year Cicada erruption is to happen next summer. Maybe
all this rain has just plumped up those branches so the cicada can split
the bark more easily when laying their eggs!
Linda Wallpe
Cincinnati, Ohio zone 6a
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