IS IT ME or does the arrival of full-blown autumn color seem to come later and later each year in these parts? I don't know if it's global warming or mild weather or what, but I seem to recall as recently as a decade ago the leaves changing color beginning in late September and peaking in mid October. Here we are in the first weekend in November and the leaves have finally given us the "Tah-DAH!" stage of see-ya-next year color (followed quickly by the rake-em-and-weep stage of relentless brown on the ground.)
On Friday I spoke to Marilyn Romenesco at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and she confirmed my observation that peak colors were late in arriving this year, which she described as a "good growing season." She wouldn't go so far as to agree that fall, in general, is falling later each year. But she did note that so far in 2006 "we haven't had a hard frost" which is unusual this late in the season.
At any rate, the color I've been waiting for can be seen on this (forgive me, I'm not sure) sugar maple along Penlyn-Blue Bell Pike in Whitpain Township Montgomery County. This photo was taken at 7:30 a.m. Nov. 3.
Dear Clark Bartram,
That's a gorgeous maple, alright, but it's Acer Palmatum, a.k.a. Japanese Maple.
The real question about this article is: what were YOU doing up and about at 7:30 in the morning?
On second thought, I don't want to know.....
And I am NOT Mary Lou's older brother!
Mike McCardell