Beech leaves

The woods on our property consist of a diverse mix of deciduous tree species. I've never attempted to do any kind of survey, but would like to some day. Until then, I cannot say with certainty what the "dominant" species is/are, but we have many specimens of large trees such as oak, hickory, maple, beech, and buckeye as well as a variety of understory trees such as sassafras, redbud, dogwood and paw paw. Trees occurring in smaller numbers are aspen, tulip tree and sycamore. Heavy winds a few weeks back pretty much wiped the branches clean of their dapper autumn-colored leaves, but there are a few lingerers. But even those hangers-on will be bare within a few weeks, save for most of the beeches and some of the oaks.


The beech trees always grab my attention, and a lot of this has to do with the fact that they encircle our house and their leaves are right at eye level from almost any window that you look out of. As fall marches into cooler days and nights, and frost and cold rains start to come into the picture, I attempt to be vigilant in watching their leaves because every year they catch me by surprise. One day they're green and then - POOF! - they've changed. And then a few days later they've changed again. As fall progresses into winter, the leaves hang on the beech trees, but they change in character. They become more and more paper-like. They go from brown to beige. Winter winds whip them ragged, but still they will hang on until the last possible moment in spring. Other tree species will be sprouting new, green growth, while last year's beech leaves will still be there, almost transparent now, clinging to a season that was over months ago.


Today I went out with my camera and attempted to capture the differing stages of change among our beech leaves. This is something that grabs my interest - the leaves on some beech trees seem to turn faster or sooner than others. I've tried to make loose correlations to the age or size of the tree, but have come up with nothing conclusive. At this point, there are very few green leaves left. Most are a nice yellow or orange, or a mottled combination of the two. Some are brown, and a few have even gone into what I call the "paper" stage - they are dry and rolled at the edges, already well on their way to their winter "look."




There is a term, I have learned, for dead leaves that cling into winter. It is marcescence. Okay, so there is a name for it, but no one is quite sure why it happens. The most common theory that I came across had to do with protection from browsing animals such as deer or moose - having these papery and likely unpalatable leaves at the end of the branches could save the tender buds from being eaten. But if that were true, wouldn't all trees employ that same strategy? So many questions, so many things still unknown.

Last vestiges of color

I took these photos a few weeks ago, when we were left with only a few trees around that still wore their fall finery.








Even though I'm showcasing colors here, I couldn't help but turn this image of tattered Beech leaves into black & white.
At present the American Beech and Sweetgum trees are still hanging on to their leaves, but the mighty oaks are finally starting to let go.

Waiting

The first day of spring is tomorrow, but we still have some cold weather to make it through. The lows are forecast to be below freezing for the next several nights, with the highs projected to be only in the 40s and 50s through the weekend. Yes, right now it is all about waiting.

All of the pretty daffodils and crocuses that have already bloomed will be very sad-looking in the morning.

Emerging crocus flower

I have so many flowers that are sprouting right now. Unfortunately I'm pretty bad at keeping track of what I've planted, so some of the shoots that are coming out of the ground will be a complete surprise!

Stella D'oro daylilly sprouts

There was a Lowe's flyer in the paper today, and they were advertising flowers already. I would love to buy some, but it's just too soon. Even April is still a risky venture as far as buying hanging baskets and such - May is much safer. =sigh=

I long for the color, and the fragrance of the flowers. Some of the monarda that I planted last year is sprouting now, and the leaves of one particular strain already smell heavenly.

A tattered leaf intertwined with the many trailing arms of Vinca

Almost every day now I poke through the thick layer of leaf mulch that accumulated during the fall and winter, wondering what the next item of green will be to force its way through the soil. Will it be the hostas, or that other columbine? Some of the irises are starting to peek through, but not the others. And what of the Lilly of the Valley?

The remnants of winter's carpet still remain, but all the while the ground is waking up with new hints of green here and there. The yellow flowers of Coltsfoot line the ditches along our road, and I wait for more spring wildflowers to come in. We always start off with white, yellow and purple - wild violets, coltsfoot, dandelions, garlic mustard, daisies and geraniums.... then there's the red of Fire Pink, the pink of the Redbud trees, maybe even some spiderwort (AHA! I just remembered one of the mystery flowers that I planted last year - a cultivated version of spiderwort). And then there's the ferns... oh the ferns!

Yes, spring, I'm waiting....




Happy Vernal Equinox!

The texture of fall

One thing that I learned about my camera during my photo camp weekend at the Wilds is that I can set the lens to auto-focus even when I have everything else set on manual. I had no idea that could be done! I thought when the camera body was in manual mode the lens had to be set in manual too. What a valuable insight this has turned out to be.

It's a rare thing for me to take a bunch of pictures ("a bunch" meaning several hundred) and end up with more than 3 or 4 that I really, really like. A recent crisp, overcast autumn day found me playing with my camera in a new way. I didn't use the viewfinder. Well, I barely used it. In 95% of the pictures, I just clicked away, not knowing what I was getting. ** Camera geek-speak warning** I set the lens on auto-focus, set the camera body on Manual, I left the aperture set as far open as it can go (about 5.6 most of the time, depending on the focal length), messed with the shutter speed here and there, and the rest is history. ** Camera geek-speak over** The results turned out better than I hoped. I ended up with lots of shots that I LOVE. This does NOT happen very often, folks. Just ask Dave. When I come back from a pre-determined walk-about with the camera, he'll ask me how it went, and I usually say "Ehh, it was okay."

After moving these shots from the memory card to the computer and checking them out, I was quite pleased. I'm not going to bore you with all of them, but I'll share those that I feel really stand out. I feel like the subject matter in many of them lends itself to strong B&W images, so sometimes I'll present the color original with the B&W option directly following. These "artsy"-style shots are among my very favorite types of photos to take. I hope you enjoy them.

An explanation on the last 3 shots to come. One thing I did while I was playing around that day was sit the camera down on the deck, turn the shutter speed down, and rotate the camera around on a fixed axis. 99% of those pictures were a "waste", but one of them grabbed my attention. There are many ways I could play with it, but basic options are offered up here. First the original, then 2 variations, then all in a row.

As always, comments and constructive criticisms are welcome!