Tobyhanna in Autumn Colors

The trees in the Poconos are beginning their grand showing of autumn colors just in time for October. Over the weekend we were so smitten with gold, magenta, and scarlet that I completely forgot to take pictures until the last day of our visit.

Monday morning at Tobyhanna was cool and beautiful. The trees are just turning, and we had a few moments of breezelessness when the water stilled enough to see the clear reflection of autumn colors against the blue morning sky. My photos cannot possibly convey the peace of the morning.

In case you aren’t a forest bunny like me, I encourage you to take an afternoon to visit a local park, or drive a couple hours to a forest, or even just go spend an hour with a tree in your yard. You may be surprised by what you hear, if you just sit back and listen a while.

The Forests of Chateau Mumu

Each of our two vacation resting places had their own unique forest character. If you think there are a lot of pictures in today's post, you can imagine how many I had to leave out!

Chateau Mumu, our first stop, was nestled in among a stand of young deciduous trees, dominated by what I believe to be either Chestnut trees, Chestnut oak trees, or possibly Chinkapin oaks – or perhaps both, or something else entirely! They stood out to me because I had not previously seen trees with these big, wonderful, toothed leaves. Further investigation will be needed for certain identification, especially since I'm still stumped by many oaks. File the tooth-leaved trees under mystery.

Other oaks, Sugar maples (Acer saccharum), Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) and the odd evergreen also grew in the woods. I was particularly surprised by what appeared to be three young Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii), the likes of which I have not seen in almost a year (where once they dominated my landscape in Washington). I can’t imagine what Douglas fir might be doing in the Poconos, and I didn't see any of their cones around, so I’ll leave these up as mystery evergreens, to be identified at a later date.

The forest floor at Chateau Mumu may have been even more exciting than the rest of the woods. Great piles of fallen leaves scattered amid rain-soaked mosses and Pennsylvania stones made for fun investigations by the puppies, and plenty of fodder for my camera.

As always, suggestions for identification of the mystery trees is welcomed and encouraged. Next week I’ll give you a full review of the places we stayed, and of course, many more pictures from our adventures in the surrounding forests and parks!

Red Maples

Red maple (Acer rubrum) in fall colors for Geraldine!

The first two images are from a tree at the Washington Crossing park on the Pennsylvania side.

The third image you see was taken back in September 2005 in Washington State: sunrise on parking lot B at The Evergreen State College. This is a picture of what some Greeners know lovingly as the “dancing maple.” You can’t miss her.

Some of you long-time arborealists might even remember seeing a few of the “Sunrise on Parking Lot B” series back at the beginning of Arboreality in October 2005.

If you’re looking for more fall colors, you might enjoy some of the archives from last autumn in Washington State. We have oak from the post office in Renton, Big leaf maples, and one of my personal favorites: Japanese maples.

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who has commented here at Arboreality over the past few days. I am happy to say that we had 15 comments from visitors since Arboreality’s First Birthday on Tuesday.

In accordance with that celebration, Arboreality has donated $30 today to the American Forests Global ReLeaf International program. Every dollar plants a tree, which means that thanks to all of you, there will be thirty more trees in our world, planted by American Forests.

Remember, you don’t need Arboreality, or even American Forests, to make this world a greener place on your own: plant a tree, donate a tree to a local school, or simply get out to a park, forest, garden, or back yard, and offer your own thanks to our oxygen-creating, shade-offering, beauty-sharing arboreal counterparts.

Special thanks to Michelle, Kelly, Geraldine, Jenn, Barbara, Trailhead, Pablo, Lené, Sylvia, and Jason, for their comments this week, and thanks also to everyone who visits and enjoys Arboreality.

Here’s to another tree-filled year, and a Happy Full Moon to us all!

Playing in the Pocono Forests

In the Poconos, the trees are at a wonderful point where anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 (or more) of the trees in a given area are turning their leaves. Fiery reds, pinks, oranges, and golds are contrasted against rich greens and browns.

It was the ultimate in eye candy, and while my camera couldn’t possibly do our travels justice, these are just some of the beautiful things we saw in the forest. We visited the Delaware State Forest, Gouldsboro State Park, and Promised Land State Park, where most of these pictures were taken.

If anyone knows the identity of the plant in the eighth picture, please tell us! It looks so familiar, but I'm not quite sure what it is. Perhaps some type of fern?

Tomorrow: the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area

Norway Maples Go To Seed

Remember the Norway Maples that we looked at in April? Here we can see the self-same tree with fresh green seeds growing in the spring warmth. As kids, we’d refer to these seeds as “helicopters,” owing to their rotary flip-flip-flip motion when they come gliding to the ground.

If you’re interested, you can also revisit our exploration of the Crimson King Norway Maple trees from the Kirkwood Preserve.

Maples, Moon, Mulberries, and Mysteries

Good morning! Here are some of the dawn’s catch, including our waning moon framed by a silver maple (we’ll investigate the silver maple more closely in a separate post).

The second image is what I believe to be another variety of mulberry (so far I believe that there are at least two if not three or more types of mulberry trees growing around here). Based on the leaves, I believe this to be a white mulberry.

The third image is of the type of mulberry growing next to the cottage. This might ALSO be called a white mulberry, or possibly a red mulberry. I’m going to have to do some research to help learn the difference between them.

I’m still planning to show you more about the really great mulberries growing by the cottage. We’re also still working on the unidentified-possible-mulberry-possible-something-else tree (which might even be a quaking aspen) from a couple weeks ago. Zut alors! So many trees, so little time!

Also, remember the mystery tree from January that turned out to be an Eastern white pine? Not to be out done, the evergreens are in blossom as well which you can tell of the Eastern white pine seen in image four, and the oriental spruce Christmas tree I planted in January seen in image five.

Finally, we’re still working on the identity of the mystery tree seen in the final image. I wanted to share another update on its progress – it’s really filling out nicely!

Hmmm… so much for focusing more on my work and less on my tree blog!

Crimson King Norway Maple

Did you know that red maples are only red when the leaves turn in the autumn? Well, I didn’t! Red maples have green leaves, and the trees you see in these images are not red maples.

These beautiful, red-violet trees are another kind of Norway maple (which we have recently explored around the farm) called Crimson King Norway maples. What a great name!

I just figured this all out yesterday when trying to identify the row of trees along the road next to the entrance to the Kirkwood Preserve. More to come!

Arbor Day Tree Blogging

Around the world, people celebrate Arbor Day at different times, but the purpose is always the same: to celebrate the trees.

In my new home state of Pennsylvania, Arbor Day is celebrated on the last day of every April. If you are interested in learning more about Arbor Day, it’s history, and the many dates upon which different countries and states celebrate this special day, you can visit The National Arbor Day Foundation online.

What better excuse than Arbor Day to share a large selection from the plethora of trees that I have gathered for you at Arboreality?

I offer you these tree images in celebration of Arbor Day, and wish you all a wonderful, leafy-green, Happy Tree and Forest Day!