Tendrils

Red Maple Common Beauty

Ubiquitous

This fall, as I hike the steep and not so steep slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I see many, many Red Maples. Reading various websites and books to get information on the tree, I am not surprised to learn that this is the most common deciduous tree in eastern North America. Yes, it is everywhere. Red Maples do well, for the most part, no matter what conditions they are asked to deal with. They will live in swamps and can easily be found on dry ridges. Soil type is not something that the tree quibbles about either.

Early Bloomer

Red Maple is the earliest flower you’ll see here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Even beating out the first of the Bloodroot.

Deep, Rich Red In The Snow

They bloom so early that often you will find their wine colored flowers covered in snow.

Leafless

Before the leaves appear, the flowers of the Red Maple turn to samaras, or as I called them as a child, helicopters. The seeds that will sprout new trees. Notice, that like the flowers of this tree, the samaras are also reflecting the name of this maple, Red.

Still More Red

Soon after the samaras show up on the branches of the Red Maples, leaves start to emerge, and being true to its name the emerging leaves are red.

Not True

Of course not all the young Red Maple leaves are a true red, but are subtle shades of red.

Silvery

The bark of young Red Maple trees is a distinctive, smooth silver gray.

Charcoal

As the tree ages the bark develops cracks and becomes a darker, charcoal gray.

Autumn

As the seasons roll on, Red Maples are an independent sort and don’t rely on their name for the color that their leaves turn in the fall. You will find Red Maple leaves in pumpkin oranges, lemon yellows, crimson reds and every color and shade in between. This fall the Red Maples have been beautiful and have provided me with loads of joy, and much new knowledge. I hope your autumn is unfolding before you in a totally pleasing way!

Swirls Of Color, Yellow to Red, All Red Maple

Brown Leaves All Winter

A Miniature American Chestnut?

While hiking in Shenandoah National Park last weekend, I became baffled by a couple small trees that caught my eye. I was baffled because they looked very much like an American Chestnut tree, just scaled down to a child-size. The scallop of the leaf edges intrigued me, being so reminiscent of the chestnut tree that I am so familiar with.

American Beech, Fagus grandifolia, With Its Edge Of Pointed Teeth — **American Beech, *Fagus grandifolia*, With Its Edge Of Pointed Teeth**

Ocean Waves and Pointed Teeth

The American Chestnut’s leaf is characterized by an ocean wave edge. Here you can see the edge of the American Beech, with its leaf edge of sharp pointed teeth. Sometimes the American Chestnut ocean wave edge looks much the same, the waves are just not breaking.

American Chestnut, Castanea dentata, With Its Ocean Wave Edge Leaf — **American Chestnut, *Castanea dentata*, With Its Ocean Wave Edge Leaf**

Funny Thing About That

Going to my library of books on trees, I discovered that chestnut trees are in the beech family. No wonder they look similar!

Smooth Bark

The American Beech has a silvery gray bark that is smooth, which it retains even into old age.

A Tree That Does Not Drop Its Leaves

This autumn, as other trees are dropping their leaves, the American Beech will hold onto its leaves through the winter and will only drop them as the winter turns to spring. These small trees with brown leaves in the dead of winter, in the understory of the forest, have fascinated me for years. Only now do I know what they are!

Witch Hazel – Peak

Floral Display

Not much is blooming now. About the only thing left putting on a show is the last of the late summer asters, with their lovely, soft lavender, diminutive petals. Tiny petals adding a comforting accent to the brilliant fall colors.

Lemon Zest

The last floral display of the year is the one I’ve been waiting for since spring. This is the opening of the Witch Hazel flowers! The flowers are a soft yellow. Four strappy petals to each flower. Petals like lemon zest. Not demanding attention but instead quietly announcing the middle of autumn and for me a warning of, “Winter is just around the corner!” A warning that I delight in!

Seed Pod

After the Witch Hazel flower is pollinated by a moth, during the following many months the flower will become a seed pod, sueded, buff colored, waiting for the floral display of the next autumn. It is in autumn that these seed pods eject their two shiny black seeds, sending them some 10 to 20 feet away. These seeds will take another whole year to germinate.

Understory

The Witch Hazel is a small tree or shrub growing in a multi-stemmed clump, reaching for the sky, but being deep in the forest, does not find the sky and the branches arch again toward the ground, creating a wide cluster of stems. The tree at best reaches about 12 to 15 feet tall and 15 to 20 feet wide.

Green Of Summer

The leaves of the Witch Hazel have wavy edges with the upper side having a dark emerald color and the under side having a lighter green color.

What Is In A Name

I have seen several thoughts on how the Witch Hazel got its name. One has to do with the leaf gall one often sees on the leaves of the tree. These galls are caused by the Witch Hazel Leaf Gall Aphid and do indeed look a bit like a witch’s hat! Another story links the timing of the flowering of the tree with Halloween. And still another story is of a historical nature. The branches of the Witch Hazel have been used by Native Americans and in turn by European settlers as divining rods to help them find underground sources for water. The word “wych” is an Anglo-Saxon word for “bend” which is what the branch was said to do when water was detected.

And Now

If the Witch Hazel flowers are indeed saying, “Winter is just around the corner!” I say, “Bring it on!!”

The Museum Of Autumnal Color

The Flatlands

Over the weekend I was down in the flatlands. The truely flat lands of Maryland and Delaware, way out on the coast. The flatlands where there is not much going on tree-wise, autumn-wise. Just occasional farm stands filled with lovely orange pumpkins and garden mums. That’s autumn for the flatlands. While away, I missed the screaming-school-bus yellow of the Hickories, and the reds, and golds and lime greens of autumn in the mountains.

Raring To Go

This morning I was chomping at the bit, all set to get my fill of autumn in the mountains again. But wait! There’s a seldom spotted critter at the bird bath. A critter that reminds me of the New Mexico state bird, the Road Runner. A Brown Thrasher,Toxostoma rufum, was splish, splashing in my bird bath. Stop everything! I’ve got to get a picture of him! Fortunately he was slow enough, that I could put the camera onto the lens that is mounted on the tripod. I got him splishing and splashing, but not so much in focus. When he came out to preen and dry, I was able to get him, almost crisp and sharp. Mission accomplished. Now on to gathering up that camera and another one for the trek.

Blue Skies

I was lucky today. The brilliant blue skies, perfectly accented the rusty browns of the White Oaks as I climbed higher and higher, up the mountain.

Backdrop

The azure skies provided the perfect background for the scarlet of the Red Maples. A background that made the reds just pop! And see that wisp of a cloud? That is all there was up there in the glorious blue – just a wisp.

A Family Favorite

There’s one tree up here that I think I can safely say is a family favorite. It’s the Black Gum, which has red leaves that really beat the band. The leaves have a slight gloss to them that just adds to the appeal.

A Slow One

One of the slower trees to change into their autumn garb, the Sugar Maple is one that I love to watch for. A winner up in Vermont. I am lucky to have some here in the Blue Ridge Mountains as well.

My Happiness Tree

The one tree that provides me with more happiness than any, here on my mountain, is the American Chestnut. Their leaf, so beautiful with its ocean wave edge, turning yellow-green, then yellow, then on to a warm soft brown. I see these trees and know that I am home, where there is so much color, everywhere, I look I feel as if I am walking through a museum of autumnal color!

Found Chestnuts!

Hiking Again

After two weeks with only one hike, I was finally out hitting the trail! Yesterday the sun was out in a beautiful, brilliant way, cheering all the mountains and me! Today, mostly clouds blued the atmosphere but not my mood. Hiking two days in a row. So much like things should be!

American Chestnut Trees

I’ve been aware of American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) trees being up here on my mountain for some time now. There was even a very large tree up here just two years ago, but that has since died, as they all do, of an orange colored fungus known commonly as “chestnut blight.”

Another Big One

There is another large one, that is still struggling to survive that we in the American Chestnut Foundation, have been using in our cross-back breeding program. This tree is known as The Rosebrook Tree, and despite the onslaught of periodic cicadas this summer, we were able to get a few seeds from this “mother tree” to use in that program.

Discovery

Yesterday and today — both days — I found American Chestnut trees that I didn’t know were growing up here! Okay, to be truthful, these are small sprouts, which might be called American Chestnut bushes. But still, I am delighted!

Revealed

I don’t know if it is because the leaves of the chestnut trees are changing into their autumn garb – a coloring that allows me to pick them out more easily than when they wear the same green-blue color of summer that so many leaves like to wear all summer long. Or perhaps it is because the walls of leaves are falling from the trees, allowing me to look deep into the forest. A real treat for me, because I now feel I am actually hiking in the mountains — I can see from one ridge to the next. I can see the blue of the Blue Ridge Mountains!

And Another Big One?

If I keep at it, I’m hoping I’ll discover another big American Chestnut tree up here. Not extremely likely. But I will keep trying!

Mystery At The Pumpkin Patch

Sincerity Calls

This is the second year in a row that the sincerity of a pumpkin patch in the Shenandoah Valley has drawn me to its brilliant orange-yellow fruit of the gourd family.

Childhood All Over Again

What fun to be greeted by piles and loads of pumpkins and other gourds, of every size, shape and color that you might want to imagine. And to roam the fields just knowing that some of these round or not so round squash will be begging to be brought home with me!

A Bonus

Not only are there pumpkins growing in those fields but unlabeled wild things. Unlabeled, unknown plants call to me. Call to me even more than the pumpkins that want to come home with me. The must be identified, or I will lose sleep. I will worry. I will fret.

Illuminated Globes

The first thing that caught my eye – the frosted-glass like globes, illuminated by the sun. Beautiful! I think more beautiful than the soft-snowy white flower with deep wine colored center, highlighted with school bus yellow stamens. Intriguing.

My Library

When I come home with my giant sized pumpkin, I have more of a treasure. I have photographs of my mystery plant. Out come all my wild flower books and BINGO! I find it. My plant is Hibiscus trionum, commonly called, Flower-of-the-hour. It has been introduced to North America as an ornamental and has escaped to become a weed of cropland. So, I don’t get the prize! I discovered a weed! But still a fun mystery and I love mysteries!

Berries – For The Birds

Open Season For Dogwood Berries

Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida, is perhaps at its high point in popularity at this time of year. As I watch out my kitchen window this rainy afternoon, in just a matter of perhaps five minutes, I see three tufted titmice, a pair of cardinals and a sprightly squirrel all gobbling down their mid-day meal.

Colorful Times

As the leaves of the Dogwood are turning from many shades of rich green to burgundy, crimson, purplish red, and rusty red orange, its berries have already turned to a Christmas cheery red, inviting birds and all critters of the woods to come, feast.

No Reminder Needed

This is an invitation, to come feast, that creatures of the woods do not need repeated! As far as favorites go, I believe that Dogwood berries are near the top of their list.

Leaf Peepers

While we humans are enjoying the brilliant display of autumn leaves, before they fall to the forest floor, Dogwood berries are quickly being devoured. So quickly that I hardly have time to get photographs of berries covered with an early snow. If I am extremely lucky, a snow will fall before the hungry critters are done with their “shopping trip” to the Dogwood Eatery.

Red And White

Only if I am extremely lucky will a get a shot of crimson red against cloud-soft white.

Sometimes

You can see though, that on rare occasions it does happen.

Who

Some of the critters that I must stay one step ahead of for my early snow shots are cardinal, junco, tufted titmouse, robin, bluebird, bobwhite, wild turkey, tree swallow, crow, woodpeckers, grackle, starling, red fox, chipmunk, squirrel, beaver, skunk, white-footed mouse, and deer. What an amazing list! It’s no wonder the berries disappear so quickly!

What?

And here we have Mr. Squirrel saying, “It wasn’t me eating all those berries!”

Silverrod

Excitement

I love to come home from one of my hikes, filled with the thrill of finding a flower that I’ve never seen before. What a cool feeling! And then to actually find it in one of my wildflower guides! Nothing better!

Brilliant, Chrome Yellow

Most of us know of the Goldenrod, with its brilliant, chrome yellow, tiny flowers which bloom along roadsides nearly everywhere. In mid-September I began seeing a flower, very similar to Goldenrod, but with snow white ray flowers, way up on my hike. I took my usual photographs to record what I had seen and brought the pictures to my studio to figure things out. I paged through my many wildflower guides and finally found what I had come upon.

A Species Of Goldenrod!

What I stumbled upon is a species of Goldenrod, with the common name, Silverrod, Solidago bicolor. It strikes me as amusing that there would be so many species of Goldenrod that are actually golden, and a species that is silvery with the common name of Silverrod. How very logical! The ray flowers of the Silverrod are snow white and the rich yellow coloring that sometimes shows, is the stamens and pollen which can be bright yellow.

A Native

The Silverrod is native to the eastern portion of North America. I’ve seen it occasionally but not in great numbers, mainly in the higher elevations.

Thinking About Maples And Syrup

Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum — Sugar Maple, *Acer saccharum*

Sweet Memories

Vermont and a telescope making conference, Stellafane, used to draw me to the land of black and white cows, Ben and Jerry’s, Sugar Maples, and maple syrup. I went up there for Stellafane for nearly 20 years straight. It was an education. An education in telescope making and astronomy in general, an education in country living, an education in Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and an education in maple syrup. Before those trips to Vermont I was quite happy to buy any old brand of pancake syrup, no care that it was mainly high fructose corn syrup. Now I know better. Only Vermont maple syrup gets set on my breakfast table or poured onto my ice cream!

Red Maple, Acer rubrum — Red Maple, *Acer rubrum*

Sticky Situation

Maple syrup is made from the sap of the Sugar Maple, and also Red Maple and Black Maple trees. The trees in northern latitudes or higher elevations such as here in Virginia, store starch in their trunks before the winter months turn the temperatures cold. In the spring, as the weather warms just a bit, the starch is converted to sugar. The sap is collected by boring a hole into the trunk of the tree and the sap will seep out, into a galvanized bucket or in more modern times into a system of plastic tubes that are connected to one another throughout the maple syrup production farm or “sugarbush.”

Another Red Maple, the yellow leaves are the Red Maple! — **Another Red Maple, the yellow leaves and the silvery bark are the Red Maple!**

Boil, Boil, Boil

The sap that is collected is boiled down from between 5 and 13 gallons until 1/4 gallon is left. This takes place in a “sugar house.” The trees are usually tapped starting at between 30 and 40 years of age and an average tree will produce about 10 gallons of sap per season at about 3 gallons a day. These maples are sometimes tapped until they reach over 100 years of age.

Nutrition

In comparing calories, maple syrup and sugar come out about equal, but maple syrup is a source of manganese (13 grams contains .44 milligrams) and also contains zinc (13 grams contain .55 milligrams). It beats out honey with 15 times more calcium and has 1/10 the amount of salt. Hmmm, I think I want pancakes for breakfast!

The Scarlet Berries Of Jack

True Red

At my back porch, I have a wonderful cluster of berries, a color that would be perfect for a Christmas display — a true red. These are the berries of a Jack-In-The-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, a plant that is native to the moist woods of eastern North America. The plant gets its name from the odd flower that emerges in the spring.

The Pulpit

The “flower” consists of a flaplike spathe which shelters the little fellow, Jack, who is sitting in the pulpit. Jack actually is covered with the real flowers of the plant — both male and female flowers. The flowers are pollinated by flies that are attracted to the plant by heat, that the plant produces much like skunk cabbage does, and by scent. The pollination results in the brilliant red berries, which each contain one to five seeds. New plants from these seeds need three or more years before they are able to produce a flower.

Flower Color

The color of the Jack-In-The-Pulpit flower varies from a pale yellow-green, to a rich emerald green, to green with dark purple or brown stripes. I find flowers of these various colors here on my mountain. They are all the same species.

Careful

All parts of a Jack-In-The-Pulpit contain calcium oxalate crystals which can cause irritation of the mouth and digestive system, and can affect breathing. On one site on the internet, I see a warning that this plant is not to be confused with poison ivy, since both plants have leaves made up of three leaflets. I find that amusing, since I doubt that anyone would want to eat poison ivy either! Deer don’t seem to have any problem with the calcium oxalate crystals. I have found that Jack-In-The-Pulpit is one of their favorite foods.