White Oak leaf (Quercus alba)

White Oak Leaf On Ice

January 5, 2025

Wander and find the amazing world of Mother Nature’s art. It’s everywhere. Go out. Don’t have a goal in mind. Don’t think of miles you are going to hike. Just walk and look closely at the little things. Is that a purple mushroom? What is that pattern in the tree bark? Look at the texture of that rock.

Mother Nature is a marvelous artist. Take your time. Find what she has created.

Here, one of her compositions. White Oak leaf (Quercus alba) on a rippled sheet of ice.

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Wild Wind!

This White Oak leaf (Quercus alba) modeled for me yesterday as I was roaming, enjoying the last of the autumn colors. Last evening a front came through. Wind roared and howled with incredible speed as it blew through the mountain trails.

One little branch. Not much to hold onto. But maybe it’s still there hanging from that branch despite the high winds.

White Oak trees, at least young trees, keep their leaves through the winter, dropping them in spring. More mature White Oak trees often will drop their upper leaves but hold onto the lower leaves until winter turns to spring. This is called marcescence.

Nature is amazing in its complicated world.

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White Oak Leaf At The Yoga Studio

I spend a good bit of time during my week at the yoga studio and I use its surroundings often as a source for photographs for this blog. Today’s post is no exception.

Melting frost on a White Oak leaf (Quercus alba) surrounded by autumn this morning. White Oak trees have marcescent leaves. Leaves that hang on after autumn turns them brown. Young trees hold onto nearly all their leaves until spring while older more mature trees usually just hold onto the brown leaves on their lower branches, letting the leaves on higher branches fall to the ground with all the other leaves of autumn.

The world of nature, so complicated and intriguing.

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