How quickly and dramatically a colourful scene can be transformed.
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Friday morning we woke to a hard frost that put an end to a few hardy plants that clung to life, like the two solitary zinnias that somehow managed to grow in my unhealthy flowerbed.
Speaking of solitary…the sighting of that snow goose the other day inspired a long outing which while not productive in the way we hoped, was enjoyable never the less.
But first, here are a few more pre-frost photos:
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Even before the frost, the canopy had thinned out a great deal and roads were littered with leaves, the woods carpeted in copper or gold.
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Even travelling slowly on country roads, you tend to come suddenly upon bursts of colour.
It’s hard to have your eyes everywhere at once and to swing the camera in time.
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Occasionally I yell “STOP!” which will one day get me whiplash as Grant jams on the brakes.
This day, he decided it was time to go by Stump Church again.
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As in so many cases, timing is everything. An earlier visit had been too soon.
In the few short days since, it had become almost too late.
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Yet it was still a sight worth seeing.
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The leaves this year a deep red.
Recalling the Fall of 2022, I checked my archive.
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October 16th of that very golden, quite stunningly beautiful year.
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This was 8 days later than the photos taken this year, yet the foliage was still dense and an entirely different colour.
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This year’s foliage cannot get its act together. Some leaves of any one tree are still green and some have colour, while many just gave up early and flung themselves off.
The display lacks coordination!
It’s handy to have Stump Church as a benchmark for the seasons as it is such a good canvas.
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Another example of that curious plowing pattern
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Maybe there’s nothing curious about it, but it seems a little random.
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In the Spring we were happy to see many trees looking fuller and healthier than in the going-on seven years we’d been here. Then came the drought.
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Climate deniers are fools.
You don’t need to be a scientist to realise how things are changing, nor do you need to be a farmer. You need only have eyes in your head and the ability to recall earlier times.
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Wednesday’s rain at least opened up the pond down on route 372 and while we’ve had fine weather since, predictions are for a wet period coming up.
It should be safe now to cover up the air conditioner and close the vents.
But then again, this is 2025.
Thank you, Carolyn, for the delightful post dedicated to the study of leaves and changes of colour in previous and present years. What was shocking to read was your mention of frost in the middle of golden autumn! Climate change?!
Joanna
The red leaves around stump church are wonderful to see. All the leaves from our Oak trees are a very light brown this year, and they look white on the lawn in the moonlight. I leave them on any grass now, as I was told not to clear them away to allow them to fertilise the lawn.
Best wishes, Pete.
Let me understand. Our current behavior caused the Medieval warming period and the Little Ice Age? The planet is alive. Mother Nature gets tired of us we’re gone. Fire deforests more than we do, volcanoes poison the atmosphere more than we do. The San Andreas let’s go we’re all screwed, forget plastic.
Of course not but humanity has never before had such a large carbon footprint. You must have observed air pollution. In places like India and China it is many, many times worse. It’s a wonder we don’t all choke. Hopefully Nature will shrug us all off before we exterminate every oher species.
Mother Nature sneezes and it’s over. A decent volcano can create a broader climate change a lot faster than China’s chewy air. We’re awful, no doubt, but we’re nothing compared to the planet.
The colours are amazing.
Here in Queensland, we’re having bizarre weather, and you have to wonder why the climate deniers are so adamant about humans accelerating climate change.
It’s crazy how quickly the colours changed in just 3 days – it’s almost winter overnight! And how beautiful are your autumn photos at Stump Church … I wonder how it happens that the autumn leaves on the same tree appear in different colours from a previous season. Nature is quite amazing.