Late September brings yellow birch in the cool, wet ground along creeks and coves, where a whole drainage can go gold inside a week. American chestnut follows in early October, its sprouts still turning brilliant yellow on the same seasonal schedule. Sassafras arrives around the same time with red, orange and gold on a single branch. It is flagging too: its dark-blue fruit ripens in fall, rich fuel that birds quickly carry away. Scarlet oak waits until last, carrying the season into November, its pointed lobes distinguishing it from white oak.
By November, the timeline has become more than a calendar. Eight species are changing on different schedules, for different reasons, across the same mountainside. This mix has changed before.
YELLOW BIRCH THE HIGH GROUND Betula alleghaniensis Rich gold
SASSAFRAS FLAGGING Sassafras albidum Red, orange, gold
SCARLET OAK THE LAST WORD Quercus coccinea True scarlet
AMERICAN CHESTNUT THE GHOST Castanea dentata Brilliant yellow
E PLATEAU OCT 11-25
Oct 8-22
Oct 8-25
Sep 25-Oct 15 Oct 1-18 Oct 1-18
Oct 6-20
Oct 8-26
SCARLET OAK
Oct 26-Nov 10
T 15
NOV 1
NOV 15
NOV 30
A SIGNAL IN THE TREES
35
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online