November 14, 2019

Change of Seasons

Autumn is officially here. After a several scattered frosts earlier in the month, I finally lost the summer garden to Jack Frost last weekend. Fortunately, I heeded of the weather warnings and gathered in the last of the tomatoes and peppers still on the vines.


The leaves have been changing too.



Our color is never very spectacular because of the kinds of trees we have.

Reds and yellows from the sweet gums.

More sweet gum.

Mostly we have silver maples, which turn an unspectacular
yellow. However, I get a few red maple leaves here and there.

More maples

Most of our oaks turn brown, but this one is red!

Dark red from the dogwoods.

The brightest red is the fire bush in our front yard.

The yellow is from Tulip poplars, which have lost their leaves.
By the end of the month, all leaves will have fallen to the ground.

Autumn may be short for us, however. My telltale sign isn't caterpillars, it's this particular cat choosing to sleep indoors at night!

Meowy

In the summer she only comes in if hunting hasn't been good. Then it's just to grab a few bites of food and she's off again. Sleeping inside is proof of cold nights! Lows in the 20s are unusual for us in November but that's what we've got! Winter's on the way!

What season are you enjoying? Autumn? Winter? Spring? Summer? Post some pictures and show us!


Change of Seasons © November 2019

30 comments:

Michelle said...

Sweet gums are the most colorful trees I know of around here; funny that you should say you don't get much color!

Gorges Smythe said...

It's all downhill from here! - lol

Hill Top Post said...

Your colors really are quite spectacular, I think. We kind of felt like we were cheated out of fall this year. It was summer one day, then winter the next.

Leigh said...

Michelle, some years it's more colorful than others, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern to it. One year a small maple in our front yard turned a brilliant orange, but hasn't been that colorful since. We have mostly oaks and pecans that just turn brown. Spotlights everything else!

Gorges, it doesn't last long, does it!

Hill Top Post, I love the color we get, but it isn't landscape spectacular, it's brilliant jewels of color here and there. I guess you could call it 'mini spectacular!'

Cathy Kennedy said...

Leigh,

Our fall foliage is a bit of a hit or miss. Some trees have good colors and others are like half & half but overall our autumn display in town isn't doing much. It's a bit of a disappointment but that's just the way it is sometimes. I find I still enjoy the seasonal change, though. It feels like we've gone straight to winter on Tuesday. Brrr, has it ever been cold! Have a doodletastic day, my dear!

Valerie-Jael said...

Hi Leigh, good that you have a cat as weather-forecaster! The autumn photos are lovely, this is my fave season, and glad you got everything safely harvested on time. t's very chilly for autumn here in Germany, but we ave to take it as it comes! Have a great da, hugs, Valerie

Kris said...

Down to teens at night, bitter north wind, crusty snow ... sure ain't usual for mid-November! Lots of trees still have leaves to drop. Now they're frozen in the snow. Brrrrr. Glad you got in your last veg. How will you do them up? Stay warm. Kris

Christine said...

Lovely fall photos, we have to shovel snow today in a Toronto! Winter is early.

Cockeyed Jo said...

We have a fair 50 sweet gum trees trees on our property. They can always be counted on for color in the fall and leaves for the compost bins. Our color changes and leaves falling was last month, but the true "fire" of other trees started Nov 1st as the poplars, oaks, and other trees joined in.

Rain said...

Hi Leigh :) So happy you joined in!!! Jack Frost is such a summertime downer isn't he? Great harvest though! Your photos are so brilliant, I love seeing all of the varieties of trees. I think Maple is my absolute favourite with Oak a close second, but I've never seen red oak leaves! Very cool! Meowy is so cute as your weather gal lol...ours are house cats and I think they'd accuse us of attempted murder if we even suggested they dip their toes into the snow lol...It seems like we don't get autumn here anymore. Just a few weeks between summer and winter and that's our season. But the snow is quite pretty (for now!!!) :)

Nancy In Boise said...

50s and 30s at night. You've got nice color on your trees! Outs turned brown after early 14 degree temps. Glad your kitty came in!

Leigh said...

Cathy, your trees sound like ours, confused about when to turn and fall. Our temps dropping so suddenly have caused several trees to drop their leaves green.

Valelrie-Jael, we used to have a chicken who could foretell the weather. She preferred roosting in a cedar tree in the chicken yard rather than going inside the coop. But anytime the weather was turning bad, she would go in. I always knew when to expect a storm!

Kris, Brrrrr is right! Too wintery for November. I plan to slice and dehydrate the peppers and will use the tomatoes as they ripen. You stay warm too!

Christine, winter is arriving too soon, but I'm not ready for snow yet! But I'm sure it makes a pretty backdrop for autumn colored leaves.

Jo, sweet gums are great for fall color. The goats also like to eat their leaves, something for you to remember when you get yours!

Rain, I was delighted to publish a blog post that matched your theme! The red for the oak is unusual, so I was pleased to find it while I was out in the woods with the girls. It's a shame no one had much of an autumn this year.

Meowy is a character. The other thing she doesn't like is rain. Sam will wade puddles but Meowy wants to be carried across the barnyard when it rains so she doesn't have to get her feet wet!

Nancy, sudden lows like that seem to shock them. Cheats us out of a nice colorful autumn!

Helen said...

My parents yard had about 20 silver maples. Yeah, nothing but curl up and drop yellowish leaves.

Leigh said...

Helen, the silver maples are attractive blowing in a summer breeze, don't you think? Their fallen leaves are supposed to be rich in nutrients as mulch and compost. So that's something!

Sam I Am...... said...


We don't have too many colorful trees here either but I must admit this year the oaks looked pretty for a change. I planted a sugar maple in my front yard 15 years ago and it is dying...evidently it doesn't like it here....the summers are too hot and dry....I feel the same way! LOL!
That's cool that your cat lets you know when Winter arrives. We are about the same here with lows in the 20's at night and maybe 40 or 5 0 during the day. I put pictures on my blog of our trees here. Enjoy "the cozy season"!

Cockeyed Jo said...

Leigh, Unfortunately, goats have been pushed farther down on our self sufficiency time line by another two years.I've just got Mel to agree on killing chickens for food. Small baby steps again but moving forward again instead of treading water. Jo

Ed said...

Normally my favorite season that I enjoy is fall but I think we got maybe two and a half days of fall this year before winter came early.

We've been eating green tomato pie with some of our green tomatoes this year.

DVArtist said...

Beautiful photos. We are still quite warm here for this time of year but we have some trees changing color.

NatureFootstep said...

the second shot of the forest is my favorite. I love forests and this is gorgeous. :)
Thanks for visiting me.
Monica at NatureFootstep

Leigh said...

Sam, it's interesting how their colors can be different over the years. I'm sorry to hear about your sugar maple though. I have the same kind of summers, so it's probably just as well that I didn't try to plant any!

Jo, unless you plan to take all those trees down, just save that info tidbit for future use!

Killing animals is hard for those of us who didn't grow up with it. It's easier with ornery critters!

Ed, green tomato pie! What a great idea. Do you have a recipe to share?

DVArtist, thanks! Seems warmer climates get less color, but even a little is welcome. When I lived in Texas people complained about Tallow trees as "weed" trees. They gave the best autumn color, however, so I liked them. :)

NatureFootstep, welcome! I'm a fan of forests as well. Rain picked a good theme.

Su Ba said...

Beautiful leaves! I only miss a few things when I moved to Hawaii, and the smell and color of autumn is one of them. I don't miss it enough to consider moving back to the mainland.....I could always visit. I had a friend mail me a box of fallen leaves and it was wonderful. Silly, no?

Chris said...

Such pretty colours, and valuable compost material for your land. It usually takes a long time for leafs to fall from our diciduous trees (mulberry) in autumn/winter. Doesn't really get cold enough, until winter.

Renee Nefe said...

As usual we had our first snow before the leaves had a chance to fall...so they all went straight to brown and are all still on the trees. :p My dog keeps crawling behind our hibiscus bushes and comes in covered in dead leaves. We have had 2 snow falls and one blizzard so far. But in between snows it will get as warm as 70 here.

Leigh said...

Su Ba, what a wonderful gift! Fun and thoughtful, I'd say. Autumn was probably the thing I miss most about moving away from the midwest. :)

Chris, extremely valuable! Currently, one of my garden tasks is raking and hauling wheelbarrows of leaves to mulch garden beds that haven't been planted. It sounds like your winters don't get quite as cold as ours. We'll be leafless by the end of the month and will have to wait until April for new growth.

Renee, you have me convinced I wouldn't be a good candidate to live in Colorado! I can see why it drives you nuts when it comes to gardening. That and your hail!

wyomingheart said...

Hi Leigh! Sounds like you have been as busy as we have been on the ridge! Our silver maples in the front yard have dropped green leaves for the past two weeks, because we went from 90’s to 30’s for several days, and had our first snow. Lucky that we got everything out of the garden because we never got a frost, just a freeze...lol. On a very thankful note, I am finally able to sit in front of the fire, instead of on that darn tractor seat. The new barn concrete was pored and that required a lot of fill and building up the elevation...so, 12 semi truck loads of creek rock moved and in place are complete. Next will be the fill dirt, and doors, but today it’s all about Ginger tea and catching up inside projects, Great to catch up with you!

Quinn said...

Well, first I have to say that I think your foliage colors are indeed spectacular!
Now, on to the season question :)
It's funny, because I usually cling to Autumn after every around me is talking about what kind of Winter we are having, but this year is different and a couple of nights ago I called "Winter." It's not just the sudden, ongoing, way-too-cold - I can hardly believe how much wood I've burned already! - it's lots of little things that individually wouldn't mean much but all together indicate that we're not heading into Winter, we're already there.

Leigh said...

Wyomingheart, sounds like you've been very busy! Your new barn project sounds wonderful. You need a blog so we can see pictures! Enjoy your time by the fire. I know I'm enjoying mine. :)

Leigh said...

Quinn, thanks! Once I got to hunting the colors out for the camera, I was pleased with what I saw.

I appreciate your answer to the question. Not just 'cuz I'm curious, but because it's the kind of answer that comes from someone who spends time observing and feeling nature. Nuances in seasonal changes. I know what you mean!

Renee Nefe said...

It can be very frustrating. However, some of the perks are... no bugs..well, not as many bugs. It is too dry here for the really pesky bugs. And while we get snow, and a lot if it..the sun usually comes out in a day or two and melts it all off.

Leigh said...

Renee, that's a good example of looking on the bright side, which is always a good thing to do!