An Early Red

The leaves here on the mountain are setting their sights on winter. They’re slowly turning from their many shades of green to warmer colors – yellow, orange, red, purple. Giving way to green chlorophyll pigments breaking down which allows other pigments to show through.

This tree is one of the first to show color in the autumn, a native to eastern North America, Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica). A mostly dioecious tree (meaning each tree produces only female or only male flowers), the female trees have blue-black bloomed drupes or berries which are very popular with migrating birds.

I thoroughly enjoy the leaf colors that these trees produce, mostly brilliant crimson.

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Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.

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