Early Fall Colors at the Farm
If you live in an area where foliage changes with the seasons, you know how exciting and beautiful this time of year can be.
I love autumn and although the season hasn't yet hit its peak here in Bedford, New York, the changing leaves are providing lots of fall color. I've planted hundreds of trees here at my farm, so it's a fantastic place to take in the season and enjoy all it has to offer.
Enjoy these photos of the early autumn changes.
-
- Here, the changing leaves won’t really peak for another week to 10-days, but the fall foliage is already looking so pretty around the farm. Some trees change early, others late – usually from mid-October to mid-November in the Northeast.
-
- Because of changes in the length of daylight and changes in temperature, leaves stop their food-making process. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to gold and orange colors come out and give the leaves part of their fall splendor.
-
- The perimeter around my paddocks displays such wonderful shades of orange, yellow, amber, brown and green. Here is a look across my lower hayfield. I love the layers of color created by the changing leaves. Although some autumn coloration occurs wherever deciduous trees are found, the most brightly colored foliage is found in Canada, the northern United States, Scandinavia, northern and western Europe, the Caucasus region near the Black Sea, Russia, eastern Asia, Argentina, Chile, southern Brazil, Korea, Japan and New Zealand’s South Island.
-
- My pin oaks, Quercus palustris, have done so well here on my farm. They are so easy to grow and maintain – they are popular landscape trees.
-
- Looking up, these pin oaks are just starting to turn color. They will soon be a reddish brown. The pin oak has an interesting growth habit, with pendulous lower branches, horizontal middle branches, and upright upper branches. Pin oaks normally reach 60 -70 feet tall but can reach heights of 100 feet.
-
- This is my Stewartia Garden. It includes several Stewartia trees. Stewartias are native to Japan, Korea, and the southeastern United States. All are slow-growing, all-season performers that show off fresh bright green leaves in spring, white flowers resembling single camellias in summer, and this colorful orange foliage in autumn. The varieties I chose for the area include: Stewartia gemmata, Stewartia x. henryae, Stewartia pseudocamellia ‘Ballet’, Stewartia monadelpha, Stewartia rostrata, and Stewartia henry ‘Skyrocket’. Do you know why I have Stewartia trees? My name is “Stewart” after all…
-
- The Stewartia garden is bordered on one side by a stand of distinguished bald cypress trees, Taxodium distichum.
-
- From this angle, one can see the slight tinge of brown in the bald cypress trees. Their fall colors are tan, cinnamon, and fiery orange. Bald cypress shed needlelike leaves. In fact, they get the name “bald” cypress because they drop their leaves so early in the season. I will share photos of these gorgeous trees when the leaves hit their peak.
-
- This fernleaf beech, Fagus sylvatica Asplenifolia, is just beginning to turn golden brown. The fernleaf beech is a medium sized tree, pyramidal when young and developing a broad spreading crown with maturity, often becoming as wide as it is tall.
-
- Here are the weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus Pendula, on one side of my “soccer field” where my grandson plays whenever he visits. I love these weeping hornbeams – the branches of these trees gracefully weep creating an umbrella of foliage that reaches the ground. Look closely, the leaves are changing – the foliage turns a bright yellow color in fall.
-
- This is one of my many weeping willow trees at the edge of my Pinetum. Most willows have pretty, green foliage and long, thin leaves. They are among the first trees to grow leaves in the spring and among the last to lose their leaves in the fall. In fall, the color of the leaves ranges from a golden shade to a greenish-yellow hue, depending on the type.
-
- Near the willow is this Japanese crypyomeria – also just beginning to change color. Commonly called Japanese cedar or sugi, it is a slender, pyramidal, evergreen conifer with tiered horizontal branching, which is slightly pendulous at the tips. It is native to forested areas in Japan and China where it typically grows as a single trunk tree up to 150 feet tall with an eight-foot trunk diameter. It is the national tree of Japan where it is often planted at temples and shrines. It is mostly blue-green now, but changes to bronze later this month.
-
- On the other side of the Pinetum is this Seven Son Flower, Hepticodium miciodies. Native to China, the Seven Son Flower is a large, fountain-shaped, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub. It is done blooming for the year, but in late summer it features clusters of fragrant, creamy-white flowers.
-
- This is my grove of American beech trees, Fagus grandifolia. These American beech trees have not changed yet, but they offer golden-bronze fall foliage. The leaves persist into winter, after turning a pleasing tan color.
-
- Although my “Christmas tree” field doesn’t go through a change of color, it’s still amazing to see how much these trees have grown since we planted them about 10 years ago. Here are some Norway spruce, but we also planted rows of Frasier fir, Canaan fir, and Blue spruce.
-
- My original linden tree allee is always eye-catching. It is located near my peafowl and pigeon pens, close to my stable. Lindens, Tilia, are medium to large shade trees that are easy to maintain and beautiful in any landscape. These are still quite green, but they will turn pale green to pale yellow soon.
-
- In contrast, these lindens are already turning. This newer linden allee runs from the old corn crib to my allée of boxwood.
-
- I loved the newer linden tree allee so much, I decided to extend it all the way down to the chicken coops – I am so pleased with how well it is growing. In time, this section will be as full as the original half.
-
- This red horse chestnut, Aesuclus x carnea, has already lost most of its leaves. This is one of two at the foot of my Boxwood Allee in front of my stable. This tree is deciduous, but the large leaves don’t show off any striking fall color. What it does have is an early season show of deeply pink-red panicles comprised of clusters of small flowers in spring.
-
- The white pines on the left are majestic. Seen from nearly every angle on this side of my farm, these trees stand tall in the changing landscape. Pinus strobus, commonly known as the eastern white pine, white pine, northern white pine, Weymouth pine, and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. Soon, I’ll share more photos of trees in their peak fall colors – what autumn changes are happening where you live?
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
