Every year there's a debate about which tree produces the best fall color: sweet gum, sumac, sassafras, etc.
Most seem to agree it's one the maples, and I concur, at least at this moment in time. If you ask me tomorrow, my answer may have changed.
During yesterday's drive home, the sugar maples along Woodlawn Pike were awash with green to red to orange to gold to yellow, as the green chlorophylls begin to break down unveiling the carotenoid and anthocyanin pigments that lie hidden underneath. A fiery, impressionist palette. Painterly like the plein-air landscapes of Monet, too bold in color to be real. But real, indeed they are.
During yesterday's drive home, the sugar maples along Woodlawn Pike were awash with green to red to orange to gold to yellow, as the green chlorophylls begin to break down unveiling the carotenoid and anthocyanin pigments that lie hidden underneath. A fiery, impressionist palette. Painterly like the plein-air landscapes of Monet, too bold in color to be real. But real, indeed they are.
I wonder: Do sugar maples grow in Monet's Garden at Giverny in France? Should I send them one?
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4 comments:
Beautiful photo of Sugar Maple leaves! This is probably my favorite tree, since I grew up with them in my yard, and often spent my afternoons climbing up into them, hauling with me my favorite book, and living many great times there, both in the book's world, and in the tree's reality.
Anonymous. Thank you. Wonderful memory.
Gorgeous leaves! I agree it is hard to decide which is the most showy and lovely fall foliage, but the sugar maples do rate high on the list! I love that color wheel too!
Tanks, Marie.
And it comes and goes so quickly. Many of the trees around the neighborhoods have already lost all their leaves.
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