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hairmetal4ever

any hints of fall color yet?

hairmetal4ever
10 years ago

Just doing a quick survey - who is seeing hints of "real" fall color (i.e., not obviously stress related)?

Here, we have had a handful of obviously stressed maples (both saccharums & rubrums) showing various degrees of color for a month, but almost exclusively on street or parking lot trees (stressed from the poor, compacted soil, restricted root zones, & reflected heat, etc). The ones with unrestricted root zones are still all green.

However, more recently, some of the Liriodendrons are yellowing on their inner leaves only (we went from wet Jun/Jul to dry as a bone in August), & some of the wild A. rubrums on the roadsides are showing some yellow in the inner leaves. Not all of them, & it seems random, I'm not sure what the deal is there.

The first hints of "real" color I've seen are on sumacs & Black Gum/Tupelo (or we can just call it Nyssa sylvatica). Some of the Nyssas are showing a nice red on some of the inner leaves just the last few days. IME these do color pretty early, at least the wild ones do. Same for Sumacs. Both will peak by early October I think.

Comments (7)

  • canadianplant
    10 years ago

    There are somethings trying it seems. Some crap apples have one or 2 nice coloured leaves. The virginia creeper i starting to turn red, but so far nothing up here at 48 latitude

  • hairmetal4ever
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    We won't peak until about the last week of Oct, but most years there are just a few tiny hints of color starting in September. However, you have to be a dork like me who really looks for it.

  • Huggorm
    10 years ago

    Some birches and maples has started to turn already. Has to be drought stress as we havn't even been close to frost yet. Most trees are just happy after the warm summer though, and this is a major mast year for most tree species. I never saw that many acorns before.

  • hairmetal4ever
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I saw a Gingko yesterday (there are a fair number here as street trees) loaded with fruit! I was certain they were only planting the male clones, although last year I seem to remember just a handful of fruits on just this one Ginkgo, this year it's loaded.

    I feel for the house that sits right behind that tree. That stink is unbearable.

  • bengz6westmd
    10 years ago

    Only the slightest hint here, tho sugar maple, birch, basswood, larch & other more "northern" tree-leaves have aged a bit from the summer heat. Other trees look their best now, like pines, bald/pond cypresses, dawn redwood, Amer sycamore, southern mag, honeylocust, etc.

  • ricksample
    10 years ago

    I'm not sure I can tell the difference between colors from stress or fall. However, we've been living here for 6 years & usually everything starts to change towards the end of September and by mid October everything is in full fall color. By the end of October the show is pretty much over. This year has been different than any in the past...

    This year many maples and other trees around here have started turning colors as of the last 2 weeks of August. It could be do to the cooler summer temps... not sure. Normally we are in the 90's to 100's during July/Aug. This year we only reached 80 a few times... it's been around mid 70's for the high and 50 for the low. Rainfall has been decent... no drought for 2013. I'm not sure what to think of it... but more and more are tuning.

  • joeschmoe80
    10 years ago

    We have a few trees showing some color here and there. A few sugar maples around have some strong oranges in the upper parts of the canopy. They'll probably peak in about 3-4 weeks.

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