Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Trees in Fall

Here is a picture of one of my front yard maples from three weeks ago. I like how each branch turns color at the tip first and the color moves down toward the trunk, accentuating the branch structure of the tree. Today that tree is bare of all leaves. Only my oaks and cherry wood trees have any leaves hanging on the branches. The crab apples have a small number of bright yellow leaves which contrast nicely with their tiny red fruit. Soon the white oaks and burr oaks (whose acorns have a fringe on their cap) will drop their leaves. Last night I was driving west on County Road 22 toward Forest Lake at sunset. The tops of the oaks were touched by the sun making their color vibrant and beautiful. Oaks are so pretty. Over winter only the red oaks and pin oaks keep their leathery leaves. Come February, some of those red oak leaves will float down on the snow where they will be warmed by the sun melting their outline into the crust on the snow. I wonder how many pounds each tree looses when the leaves fall off?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have a beautiful tree there. It is sad they don't keep leaves long enough to really enjoy the colors it has left to share.
Rene

Sue said...

I know! Kind of like prom or a wedding, trees get all dressed up and then the event is over.

One More Sleep