Growing up in MA,(Yankee redneck) we had four seasons and nice foliage in the Fall. Plenty of snow and the road to my aunt and uncle’s house was lined with white birch trees. If if was a sticky snow that stuck to the trees, it became a white tunnel. After I got my license, I used to love driving the rural areas during Fall and seeing the foliage and kicking up orange leaves that had fallen and collected on the roads.
Then I lived in FL for 25 years where it was Summer most of the year. Only thing that turned color was people’s lawns turning brown in Winter.
Now I’m in MO with four seasons again. Foliage isn’t as good overall but since I’m in hill country of the Ozarks mini mountains, there are a few exceptional views during that time. We get a little snow most years but get even more ice, rain that freezes on everything including the trees. They look like they’re made of crystal sometimes. At the end of Winter into early Spring, about the time you get sick of the grey/brown, the dogwoods, serviceberries and redbuds start blooming. Huge amount of Spring wildflowers here and this year with all the rain, they kept going well into Summer.
The problem with foliage here is that post oak, our predominate tree, goes from green to yellow to brown within a week or two. Hickory goes bright yellow and red oak goes red and both stay that for a good amount of time. I try to avoid cutting anything but post oak here to improve the foliage and plan to plant shrubs and trees for more of the orange and red.
Sounds beautifil!
We are LOADED with hickory trees. We have some actually on our property, but the fence line with the neighbors is a virtual hickory ‘orchard’. When we lost our power suddenly a couple of months ago (lone outage - no one else!), the crew drove up the driveway & right around back like they knew where they were going ..... they did! The older guy, as he came around the truck said “you’ve got a squirrel that tripped the transformer .... happens all the time here .... about a year ago, I was making almost weekly trips!” Wut??
It turned out not to be a squirrel but a crow who had fried itself by landing on the wrong part of the transformer - there was a black pile of feathers at the base of the pole & I saw the guys lifting off the transformer what looked like a wing & pair of legs (yuck)!
After the crew finished, I went out to talk to them & the older guy told me that the previous owner was having issues almost every week. Evidently, there were some hickory trees near the pole attracting the squirrels. Those trees were taken down and he said he “put something on the pole” and that kept the squirrels off for over a year, at least as long as we’ve owned the place.
While mowing about 10 days ago, I was coming along the fence and “BONG”, something nailed me in the forehead - it hurt! When I looked around to see what it was, it was a cluster of hickory nuts (3). They had gotten large and heavy enough to cause the branch to be lower than usual. With the brim of my hat & focusing on where I was going, I ran right into the nuts. On the return trip, I was breaking branches with nut clusters & tossing them over the fence so I didn’t have to worry about getting knocked in the head again!
So the hickory trees are loaded with nuts, but the chestnut trees (2 left, biggest one has died) have very few nuts this year. They bloomed up a storm, but didn’t set nuts. The squirrels will be disappointed - they beat me to every nut last year, but they’ll have plenty of hickory nuts. I don’t mind no chestnuts because they are super ‘prickly’ and getting a spine in your foot (I wear flip flops a lot) is quite painful.
After a week of gray days, the sun is out today & it’s a gorgeous, cool morning. Dew is shining like diamonds on the field across the road. The birds are singing up a storm. Clouds will come back later this afternoon & maybe a stray shower, highs mid-80’s and ‘slightly humid’. I have a few light tasks I’m doing this morning & then I’m watching Little League Baseball this afternoon. Mom and I have been catching the 7:00 pm games (games have been at 1, 3, 5 & 7 most of the week) and we’re ‘hooked’. The International & US Championship games are today & the winners will play for the World Championship tomorrow. The kids are mostly 12 years old & they can really play - the games have been pretty exciting. Lots of ‘life lessons’ being learned, including the “thrill of victory & the agony of defeat”. We also watched Little League Softball World Series (girls) a couple of weeks ago which I enjoy as much if not more than the baseball.