Recent Articles from FoBR Newsletters

Fire and Ice

Autumn: it is a time when short hikes take hours. Once you enter any woodlot it feels as if you should never leave, for if you turn your back for just a minute it may all disappear, which of course it does. It is time to exit our daily routine, to reflect on the past growing season and to imagine what lies ahead. What allows this transformation of mind and spirit is the color of leaves. An artist has been at work since the first thaw, and no one can create and paint quite like life itself.

The whole process starts because of the fact that broad-leaved deciduous trees transpire copious amounts of water. In winter, water freezes and these trees would be left losing more water than they could obtain. So, the tree cuts off the leaf that brings it life in order to keep the leaf from causing its death.

The color explosion has begun. Dogwoods (Cornus florida), dwarf sumacs (Rhus copallina), black gums (Nyssa sylvatica), and Virginia creepers (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) are leading the way with brilliant reds and purples. Poison ivy (Rhus radicans), tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), American elms (Ulmus americana), and birches (Betula spp.) are close on their heels; they will add a fantastic lemony yellow to the stage. Red maples (Acer rubum), silver maples (Acer saccharinum), and sugar maples (Acer saccharum) will flash light gold with brilliant orange, pink, and red blush as hickories (Carya spp.) turn a golden tan.

No other tree genus can match the variety and brilliance that the maples -- temporary kings of the forest -- display. We stare at them for hours and hope with all our might that the wind will not blow and they can remain this way forever.

After the glitter of color has passed, oaks and beeches concede to the season with their deep crimsons, bronzes, and russet tans. These trees will not form a complete abscission layer between leaf and stem, as did their predecessors of the season, and thus their leaves will remain rattling and rustling through most of the upcoming winter, as if whispering silently about past glories and future conquests.

We find, throughout this season of thanks, a need to see it all. Subtle changes occur daily as the artist is constantly at work. We do not want to miss even the slightest stroke of the brush. In a few short weeks, we can watch leaves go from green to yellow, orange, red, and purple, seeming to summarize life's full majesty, but ending abruptly as the leaves fall and sprinkle the ground like Fruity Pebbles -- a final encore.

If you want to learn more about what causes these wonderful changes and produces such brilliant colors, join us for a forest breakfast as we view the beauty and ponder what lies ahead. Enjoy the autumn season and, whatever happens, make sure you do not let the splendor pass you by.