November has arrived

When I went out a week ago, what struck me was that it still seemed like October: a colorful harvest season. When I went out today, I saw that November had arrived.  The trees were bare and the sky was cloudy.  It has been a windy week, causing the leaves to blow off the trees.  This was the view at Peebles Island today:

The only green leaves I saw on trees were on the buckthorns.

There were some yellow leaves on Norway maples, and some brown leaves on oaks.  Some of oak leaves will stay on the trees throughout the winter.

In the woods, the ground was covered with brown oak leaves.

The one exception to bare trees, gray sky, and brown oak leaves was two red maples in a raised bed by the pavilion.

Norway maples still yellow, one day later

The brilliance of the Norway maples by my balcony caught my eye again today.

Norway maple has turned yellow

This morning, the brilliant yellow of the Norway maple by my balcony caught my eye. Wasn't it just green last week? How did it get so yellow?

Color comes to the red maples

I have been watching the red maples.  They are brilliant this time of year. There is a row of four red maples that I walk past on my way to and from work every weekday.

A little bit of color started showing September 23.

On October 17, the two in the middle were turning red, while the two on the end still seemed green.

October 19:

October 21:

October 24:

By October, 26, the southernmost one is yellow, and the northernmost one has a bit of red amid the green.

Still October 26, here are the two most southern of the red maples.  The green trees behind them are elms.

The two middle trees are the reddest.

The last picture from October 26 gives a good look at the red.

On October 27, it snowed:

On October 28, the snow was still around in the morning, though it melted by the end of the day.

In this picture taken later in the day on October 28, the red maples are in the background, and you can see that the elms next to them are still green.

On November 1, the southernmost tree has lost many of its leaves, and the northernmost tree, the last to turn, is finally red.

November 2:

November 3: The middle two trees are brilliant.

As we saw on November 1, on November 4. the southernmost tree has lost some leaves, the northernmost tree has turned red, and the middle two trees remain brilliant.

November 6 was a Sunday, I did not take  my weekday route.  Instead, I saw this red maple:

In a view from the distance on November 7, you can see that the red maples are still red and the elms beside them are still green.

A closer view, still on November 7, shows the brilliance of the red maple that is the second from the north.

On November 9, I took this picture on the way to work. The southernmost tree is bare, but the other three are still colorful.

I took more photos of the red maples on lunch hour on November 9. These show that while the three northern trees are still colorful, the foliage is now thin enough that the sycamore behind them can be seen through the branches.

The tree that is second from the north seems to be the most colorful at this time.

The ground is covered with fallen red maple leaves.

The next three photos show that on November 10, the red maples have mostly lost their leaves. It was quite windy, and I think the wind blew a lot of leaves off the trees. Now of the four red maples, the one that is second from the north is the only one that has a significant amount of leaves.

November hawthorn

At this time of year, the hawthorns have lots of berries, and their leaves are yellowish with autumn.

The name hawthorn has "thorn" in it.  Here's the thorn:

Leaves turn green in fall

In fall, leaves the leaves turn from green to red, orange, or yellow, right?

October 21: this Japanese maple that used to be burgundy is  now turning green.

I know I have seen Japanese maples with red autumn leaves.  Do they first turn green and then turn red? Or do certain ones turn green and certain other ones turn red?

November 2: This Norway maple that used to be burgundy is also turning green.

November 9: Here is the same Japanese maple I photographed on October 21.

It's hard to compare with the October 21 photo because that one showed fewer leaves, while this one shows more of the overall tree.

Meanwhile, also on November 9, this Japanese maple is looking red, indicating that different Japanese maples are different.