To the great tree-loving fraternity we belong. We love trees with universal and unfeigned love, and all things that do grow under them or around them — the whole leaf and root tribe. ~Henry Ward Beecher
When I last left my silver maple tree, it was just beginning to change color. And within a couple of weeks it made a dramatic shift and has since lost its leaves. It remains barren now, though not devoid of life.
I am linking in with Lucy@Loose and Leafy for her Tree Following meme that happens around the 7th of every month as I chronicle what has been happening to my beloved silver maple tree in my garden this past October. And I am joining in early with Pam@Digging for her Foliage Follow Up on the 16th.
I am also linking in with Judith@Lavender Cottage who hosts Mosaic Monday.
There are two silver maples in my back gardens. The one I am following in the center, and the other shorter maple tree behind the gazebo. Each one changes color in the opposite direction. My maple changes color more from the bottom to the top, and the one near the gazebo changes color from the top to the bottom. I love nature and her fickle ways.
Here’s a bit of a close up in early October of my silver maple. Leaves just turning yellow with bottom leaves having a tinge of reddish-orange.
The leaves appear darker orange in the early morning light. I love the tricks of color the dawn plays on the leaves.
As we approached later October the winds were howling and the leaves were being stripped. You can see many of them on the ground joining the ash leaves already there. My silver maple is more orange-colored, and just behind the gazebo you can see the more golden leaves of the other silver maple. So different in the colors. Mine never looks so golden.
Here is my silver maple a bit closer in view. The leaves are still multi colored with hues of yellow, gold and orange dominating.
I wanted to include some close-ups of the leaves throughout October. Starting left to right, you can see the progression from green, yellow and orange to more red and orange in the center picture. Then the leaves become orange, copper and brown as October ends. The red buds appearing (looking like red berries) are the flower buds that develop now once the leaves fall. The flower buds stay locked in their tight red cases all winter making for a colorful backdrop to the snowy landscape.
So that is the update of my silver maple in October. It will not change much in appearance except for the snow that will cover it from time to time in winter. I’ll add those captures in my end of the month reviews of my garden.
In celebration of Trees, I have republished my tree poem on my new blog, Living From Happiness. I hope you will pop over to read it.
So are you following a tree? What does your tree look like now?
There are rich counsels in the trees. ~Herbert P. Horne
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In A Vase On Monday
The weather is still cooperating as the killing frost has held off into early November now. So there is some fine foliage and flowers I did not cut back in the garden so I could create a few more vases.
As I do every Monday (or before Monday sometimes), I wander the garden looking for what plants might make for a lovely vase to bring indoors. Cathy@Rambling in the Garden hosts this wonderful meme, In a Vase on Monday. I am also linking in with Today’s Flowers hosted by Denise@An English Girl Rambles.
I found these marigolds in one of my grow bags blooming beautifully under a row cover. So I added some foliage from my oak leaf hydrangea, some sage leaves, dried sedum flowerheads and 2 maroon knautia blossoms I found hiding in the garden. I like the autumn look of this vase.
In contrast, I still had fairy roses blooming like crazy and I couldn’t leave them just sitting in the garden for the frost to get them. So I picked a big bunch and made a huge vase with them.
And even with all the roses picked there were still enough to fill a couple more vases. If the frost holds off I may have another flower vase for next week too.
To the vase, I added the purple hyssop still barely blooming or just ending, and some lavender still sending up flowers. I had a few more Japanese anemone and coreopsis to sprinkle throughout the roses. The roses will bring me some cheer as our weather is turning colder now to daytime highs in the low 40s with rain and snow.
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Next up on the blog:
Wednesday I will have the last wrap up of my veg garden. And next Monday I will have a new series for the winter months profiling some of my favorite annual flowers.
I am also joining in I Heart Macro with Laura@Shine The Divine that happens every Saturday.
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