Fall, Finally

Temperatures are dropping into the 40s at night, and 60s in the daytime. The first reports of frost... in other places ... are making the news. For Minnesota that's pretty late. Colors which should have already changed are now finally working at it, before we're back into the high 70s or low 80s again, later this week.

Sumacs are usually the first, and by now most would usually have dropped their leaves and be left with only the red clumps of seeds.

Right now they are full of both, though leaves are ready to thin.

There are trees that, thanks to several weeks without rain, are dropping their top leaves after the merest change in color. But the maples, always the most spectacular of the trees around in early fall, are putting on a show, either in oranges or reds.

 My pardon for the poles in this shot, but these two maples are right around the corner, and this is the only shot without tresspassing. One is red, the other orange, Nothing else has started changing near them.

This is a shot of a tiny section of a single tree, high over a rooftop. It has quite a range of colors all by itself, and much greener leaves lower if one looks at the roof and half a dozen cables spoiling the shot even lower, in front of it. Since this is above the cables and roof, you can guess how large the tree is. It also spreads more than the total width of the house, which itself is quite large. I have shots with cables and dormers and skylights on the street side of the house roof. I chose to stick with fall color, and this tree has quite the variety.

Finally, I have a shot of a tree with a long history, more than the years I've passed it on the highway. I include it for its history, both in life and color, along with my expectations of how the picture should change in a week or two.

Note the frontage road in front and the highway with cars and buildings in back of it. You also see a lot of dead branches. For years I had thought it had finished its life while we were in Arizona. But the back right side of the tree from this viewpoint is a luscious dark green. The pale yellows are other species.

You may well ask where the fall color is. A dozen years back it's fall color was absolutely scarlet. Yes, it's another maple. Another of matching color resided across the highway, just out of this picture to the right. It died and was removed several years ago. This hardy specimen hung on and produced new growth on its back right side, and has been left to continue its life by whoever owns the land. As for fall color, we've always been back down south by the time the new growth changed. I can only hope it has the same capability for bright red leaves its younger version had. Now that we're staying close, I will be watching it nearly daily, waiting to see what happens. 

I hope to have new photos by the end of the month. The oaks should be turning by then as well.