A Time of Bare Limbs

Our big flame leaf sumac finally gave us a show of color this year, less the scarlet seen on a few of its roadside cousins, but enough red and yellow to qualify as a fall spectacle. We also got the usual bunches of black berries, which are still attracting birds even as the leaves head to the ground. This year we let grow a small group of offspring from the parent and we think they might be more colorful when they mature, since they are outside the shelter of the house and more exposed to the north wind.

As I look at the leaves of the sumac this morning, they are hanging limp and still. There was a big freeze last night and there’s a good frost on the ground this morning. I imagine with the next strong wind all those leaves will come tumbling down and we’ll officially be in the season of bare limbs. I also suspect the lacy oaks will start dropping their leaves now that we have a frost. The burr oak and one of the chinquapins dropped theirs a while back. I can now see the burr’s broken limb and one of these days I’ll climb up and tend to it.

As all the trees have aged and grown and spread, they’ve really changed the character of our home. Once upon a time, it was lonely house on bare ground. Now it is older and enveloped and sheltered from view by the canopies of the many trees we planted. And there are more on the way. I could list them all, but they’d just be names on paper. Suffice it to say there is foliage and blooms enough to go around with more to come, something to anticipate as we enter the season of cold and loss.