We’re in the bitter end of fall here, at least in terms of foliage. To me, this is when trees really start to shine. Maybe it’s all the bare trees nearby, or the perpetually cloudy skies, but the remaining foliage seems to take on an extra glow, or maybe urgency. Foliage colors that wouldn’t have turned a head 2 weeks ago now looks spectacular in the dying season, like the russet brown of the Star Magnolia behind Voter Hall. Sunlight breaking through the clouds acts like a highlighter pen. The wet cold makes any color seem all the more special. Here’s a little slideshow of trees and some shrubs that turned my head late last week.
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I so agree with you — I think it’s even more beautiful than ‘peak season’ now that the remaining leaves are in such lovely contrast to the soft gray-brown of the bare limbs. Gorgeous.
Hey, I got that tree on the bottom right, too — it glows, doesn’t it? Snapped it with my phone on the way to a talk the other day; http://www.flickr.com/photos/enzoandlulu/5123564963/
It’s a ginkgo-read http://sites.middlebury.edu/middland/2009/11/04/ginkgo/. Enjoy it while you can-each tree drops its entire set of leaves in one day. Just like Monty Python says they do.
The fleeting makes it more beautiful.