November Colors at My Farm
This year's autumnal hue-fest continues at my Bedford, New York farm.
It's the shorter days and cooler air temperatures that trigger trees to change their leaf color from green to red, yellow, brown, and gold. It's this weather that also activates the hormones within the plants to begin the abscission process, the weakening of the connection between the leaves and branches that make them drop to the ground. Here are more of the late autumn colors around my farm.
Enjoy these photos, and remember Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend, so turn your clocks back one hour tomorrow, Sunday, November 3, 2024.
-
- Here at my farm, the peak of fall, when leaves have changed color and are most vibrant, is nearing its end, but look at the gorgeous show. This view looks down between two of my fenced paddocks.
-
- The yellow leaves of the climbing hydrangea stand out on this sugar maple planted behind my garden of tree peonies.
-
- And here, the late afternoon sun shines through the leaves of the American Beech. American beech is native to the eastern United States and Canada. It is a deciduous tree, meaning soon it will lose all these leaves and remain bare for the cold season.
-
- These lindens look more spectacular every year. Lindens, Tilia, are medium to large shade trees that are easy to maintain and beautiful in any landscape. They turn pale green to pale yellow in autumn.
-
- These lindens can be seen from so many areas of the farm. They are near the dark green eastern white pines.
-
- This allée extends from my long pergola down to my chicken coops.
-
- It is the varied colors of the changing leaves that add so much interest. Fall hues include yellow, gold, brown, russet, crimson, and scarlet red.
-
- Soon, all my Japanese maples will also become brighter. The chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down, revealing the red pigment and creating the vibrant red color we see after the first frost – just wait.
-
- In my Summer House garden, the giant female Ginkgo is holding onto her leaves – for now. “The Great Ginkgo Leaf Drop” will happen in a couple weeks. Ginkgos lose all their leaves at the same time because of the way their petioles, known as stems, work. As the weather gets colder, the petioles get what’s called scars to protect the tree from disease after the leaves fall. For most trees, that happens on a leaf-by-leaf basis. But in the case of the ginkgo, all the scars form mysteriously on the same day.
-
- This Ginkgo in my herbaceous peony garden is still changing colors from green to brilliant yellow.
-
- More color is seen along the carriage road in my upper hayfield at this stand of red maples, Acer rubrum. Red maple is one of the most colorful in autumn and one of the earliest trees to show its color changes – shades of yellow, orange, and red, sometimes on the same tree.
-
- Not far is my old sycamore tree, the symbol of my farm. It has already lost most of its leaves for the season.
-
- Dawn redwoods, Metasequoia, have feathery, fine-textured needles that are opposite each other and approximately a half-inch long. Don’t confuse them with the bald cypress needles, which grow alternately. In autumn, these dawn redwood needles are different shades of golden-brown.
-
- The tree on the right grows pawpaws. I have a grove of these pawpaw trees behind my greenhouse. Asimina triloba, the American pawpaw, is a small deciduous tree native to the eastern United States and Canada. The taste of a pawpaw fruit is a mix of mango-banana-citrus all in one. It’s a big favorite for some here at the farm.
-
- The Parrotia persica, also known as the Persian ironwood, is a deciduous tree that is known for its spectacular fall foliage. Here is a Parrotia persica hedge on the left. This time of year, it shows off a variety of colors, including yellow, orange, red, and purple.
-
- When the leaves of larch turn color, the greenish-yellow transform to golden yellow – a beautiful contrast with surrounding evergreens in my pinetum.
-
- Across from my winding pergola is a row of towering bald cypress, Taxodium distichum – a deciduous conifer. These trees are also changing colors.
-
- In summer the leaves are green and turn russet brown in fall. Like trees with leaves, bald cypress trees drop their needles in the fall leaving the tree – well, bald.
-
- Here is yesterday’s view of them from the other side of the pergola.
-
- Do you recognize these plants? This is the foliage of Syneilesis, commonly called the shredded umbrella plant because of the narrow, dissected leaves that cascade downward like an umbrella.
-
- And here a view of one of my majestic pin oaks. The pin oak allée is the first allée guests see when entering my farm. These trees are tall and impressive. Pin oaks, Quercus palustris, are popular landscape trees because they are fast-growing and easy to maintain.
-
- One of the pin oak tree’s most distinguishable traits is its habit – the lower branches hang down, while the middle branches reach out horizontally and the upper branches grow upright.
-
- It is now November, but in my flower garden, one beautiful rose still remains.
-
- And after all the leaves have changed and fallen, the trees remain bare. Essentially, they enter a dormant state, “going to sleep” for the winter. this is when they conserve energy by stopping active growth while roots remain active, absorbing water and nutrients from the soil, and preparing for new growth come spring.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
