Autumn Comes To Texas

Texas? Sure, we have autumn color. It's not Vermont or Wisconsin, or even Virginia. But on a good year, it ain't bad. While it's still early, I think it's going to be a good year.

The sumac are turning pretty quickly, and some have even dropped their leaves already. I haven't seen a really red RedOak yet. We'll see how it shakes out. A tree which often just kinda turns brown is the Cedar Elm. This year though, I've seen quite a few of them turning golden. I don't know if it's rain or air temperature or moisture in the air, but I suspect it's a combination of all the above. Whatever the case, it looks like they might give us quite a show this year.

There's a non-native tree called Chinese Pistache, which those of us who love native trees would like to think is native. Lord knows it's drought and heat tolerant, and it gives a great show.
I have a Burr Oak(not the one pictured) that I planted in my front yard. He's turning a little gold, so I'm optimistic about Burr Oak's color this year.

The tree that lovers of autumn in Texas are most passionate about though is the Big Tooth Maple. Sometimes they're golden, sometimes they're red, but most always just plain beautiful. The two I have in my yard are doing okay, but got a little summer burn. I planted them in the full sun and mulched and watered them fairly well. This was their first year though. Time for them to get established.

This afternoon I'm going to a place just outside Boerne. There's a long, winding road that gets progressively smaller, and finally becomes a dirt road, ending at a ranch gate. If you park your truck and walk a few paces to your left--not too far or you'll drop about a hundred feet down into a deep cut valley with steep cliffs and a stream at the bottom. In that riverbottom soil there are lots of live oaks, cedar elm and red oaks. The treat though, is that there are probably 30 or so large Big Tooth Maple growing down there. Last year their color wasn't anything too impressive, but this year, they're looking great.

Postscript: The picture above was taken Sunday morning 11/6. A 35-foot Big Tooth keeps a toe-hold overlooking everything from the side of the cliff. I can report that indeed, the maple colors are looking quite fine this year. In fact, they're downright Vermontesque. Heck of a word I just coined there.