The leaves started turning color this week. It started, as it usually does, with the hard maples, and has begun to spread to the dogwood. The sycamores are just looking sick, and the oaks haven’t changed a bit. The weather this summer was hot and dry, and it seemed the longer summer went on, the hotter and dryer it got. I don’t expect a great color this year; many of the trees have started dropping without even changing. But even a poor year is still beautiful, and for those of us who love fall, it really is one of the highlights of the season. I was amazed when I discovered that only in North America and East Asia due the trees change color in the fall; it was in a garden book that recommended not planting European trees if you wanted fall color because they didn’t provide much of a display.
As long as I’m talking about gardening, I want to brag about my pumpkins. This year the vine that volunteered from last year’s seeds was enormous and threatened to take over the front yard; the neighbors would discreetly enquire about it when we ran into them. I’ve gotten a big and little pumpkin off it already, and there’s another one just starting to grow. Yeah, we’re in touch with nature here at funmurphys.
