Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Fall Will Be Muted

The recent icy blast has put a hurting on the colors of fall. A good portion of the forest leaves were frozen to a crisp. They will not slowly drain the green chlorophyll, turn brilliant colors and separate from the stems when the circulation system has been sealed off. They will simply get crispy and drop. Fall will be muted.



I will however search out the best and the brightest to continue serving up autumn while it still lasts.



Hopefully I will not have to rely solely upon berries for color until the dead of winter. And that may be a problem since I noticed someone ate every last viburnum berry about a week ago. It must of had something to do with that avian ruckus that bounced through the forest canopy over the course of a few days.

This deciduous Ilex tolazytolukukus produced a bumper crop of berries this year. Barring a feeding frenzy it should look good once the leaves have been shed.



Fall wasn't cancelled by the early snow and icy blast. It was a very random frigid assault. There will just be less of it and this won't be the best year for fall color. We did have a most excellent spring though.



I liked this colorful fall picture so I am showing it again with an ever so slight variation.



Tucked away in protected coves bits of the full glory of autumn may have been spared.



I really should take a day to go find more of it.

5 comments:

chuck b. said...

It's still beautiful. We're going to the mountains looking for fall color this weekend. Should be fun.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I think you should go out leaf peeping too. I so enjoy seeing all the color in the mountains.

I find that the holly berries are the last to be eaten by birds in our garden. Unfortunately for them and for my colorful winter display the holly bushes in our front garden didn't do well this year. I can't figure out why unless the last frost of the spring killed the blooms because there are only a few berries at the bottom of the bushes. Our winter resident Mockingbird will be disappointed.

Anonymous said...

Yes you should go find more fall colors. The cabin will be there all winter, but fall won't! You have me on that Ilex; I have never heard of that species and will be looking it up promptly!

bev

Lola said...

Muted or not the beauty is still there for the eyes of the beholder. I rather prefer the second shot of the tree.
Yes, by all means, do go enjoy the bounty of nature that surrounds you. It is only for a season.

Anonymous said...

Oh be still my beating heart, that last shot is magnificent. Mysterious foggy mists peeked at through a branch, forbidden but enjoyed.
Frances