Autumn colors are past peak here, but still hanging on sufficiently so as to present a fine sight. Not as fine as last year - this may have been due to a bout of rain just before and during peak, but still quite satisfying.

Long vistas hidden over the past seven months are opening up, too. That, combined with variability in autumn colors affords an interesting opportunity to perceive things invisible at a distance, at other times of the year.

Here, for instance, is Decumaria barbara, climbing hydrangea or (my favorite) woodvamp. We find it growing enthusiastically up trees anywhere close to water. Usually invisible in the glut of greenery unless you’re looking closely for the tenacious and rootlet festooned climbing stems, it suddenly becomes obvious where every single specimen is to be found. The leaves turn a pale yellow or white, but they do so variably, so that you get a wild combo of green and other. I love this plant, and today I think I will do a count.



This was a startling observation. We have a lone bright yellow presenter among a mini world of reddish brown. What could it be?



It’s a maple, presumably a red maple, but it could be a chalk maple. I’ll have to bring a small branch up to see. What’s relevant here is that not only did I not know there was only one maple in this area, I didn’t realize that there weren’t dozens. Our red maples are fairly common in all parts of the property, except, apparently, this one.



I’d already known this was an ununusual area, at the southernmost upper reaches of SBS Creek. We’ve talked about it before - there are mostly beeches and white oaks. It’s a relatively ancient area in terms of human disturbance - the six large beeches are certainly a minimum of a century old, and more probably two, if not even older than that. There is a higher proportion of sourwoods than in other parts of the property. There are a few northern red oaks, but mostly those are to be found downstream. I should also note that there are very few sweetgums, which are to be found in dense numbers elsewhere.

No photo, but downstream a bit there is what I take to be a large northern red oak that still has green leaves, though they are just starting to turn. All the other northern red oaks, even those very close by, have completely turned. There are NRO lookalikes, so perhaps this is one.

Autumn isn’t the only time that we can play this game - spring is another.