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We did not have a lot of fall color this October. What we did get to enjoy was mostly yellow in color. Here a couple of maples we planted long ago managed to show off a bit. For the most part though, the warm weather just made the leaves fall off without much change in hue.
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October is my favorite month of the year. We usually get cooler weather, bright blue skies, and, of course, fall color. This October was warmer and wetter than usual. The lowest temperature here for the month was only 46 degrees, which means we did not have a frost or even anything resembling cold weather. Most of our oaks at Twin Oaks are hybrids of willow, water, and pin oak variety. These trees have little color. They turn light brown and simply fall off. Without colder weather, this October saw very little in the way of leaf color. Normally, our autumn color is at its height around Halloween. This year it will be later - or not at all.
We had multitude of clear, blue sky days with highs in the 70's, even touching 80 degrees. Several times, especially early in the month, it felt hot in the bright sun. So, most of our flowers and plants remained as if it were still September. This kept the hummingbirds around until late in the month. The butterflies remained all month long.
The most noticeable aroma this October came from the Elaeagnus that we have been battling for years. It is highly invasive but its scent is so incredibly sweet this time of year. The mostly clear skies meant that we enjoyed several remarkable sunsets and a lot of planetary action, as Twin Oaks affords a perfect view of almost all of the ecliptic stretching across the night sky. Great for star gazing!
Last night, the remains of Hurricane Zeta passed directly over my property, bringing with it sustained winds of about 30 - 40 MPH with potentially damaging wind gusts of over 50 MPH. We already had 2.5 inches of rain before the storm arrived which made me anxious about possible damage to my house and trees. Zeta dumped another 2 inches of rain as it passed between 3AM and 5AM, Fortunately, the damage was mostly limited to tree branches. Over 14,000 homes were without power in my area this morning but luckily ours was not one of them.
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Muscadine vine along the forest floor began to turn from green to yellow.
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| A few smaller trees offered fall color in early October. |
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Dogwood leaves were kind of burnt red and brown backlit by the sun.
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This young tree proudly proclaims autumn in our mostly unchanged woods.
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The loropetalum put off beautiful pinkish shoots of growth in early October. Some spring-like color in the fall.
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A closer look.
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Our house along the driveway facing southeast. Various plants in bed that includes our Nandina and White Aster.
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| Close-up for the Aster. |
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A closer look.
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Steps and path through the Pineapple Sage and other plants on the rock terrace.
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Butterflies and hummingbirds were attracted to our Pineapple Sage throughout most of October.
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This swallowtail butterfly was a little worse for wear but still getting around fine. I could not help but wonder if it was the same butterfly I photographed back in May.
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A Blue Jay and a Robin on the bird bath at the rock terrace. I took this shot through my study window while sitting at my computer.
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A few late summer flowers were still lingering throughout October.
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This might not look like much but it is a thriving patch of elaeagnus that has grown back along the southern part of our property. I planted the elm tree in the foreground many years ago. Though its small blooms give off a wonderful sweet fragrance, we have been trying ofr years to rid ourselves of this highly invasive shrub. We once planted a row of it in the back yard which soon turned into a wall and then a gigantic wave. It's long reaching growth acts like arms to grab you if you are trying to mow around it. After hacking it up and spraying it where necessary, we no longer have it where it once grew but now it shoots up in places where we piled the remains. Trust me, you don't want to try planting this at home.
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It smells sweet though.
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Toward the end of the month I started mowing the lower field, to work the seeds from April's red clover back into the ground and to plant more. I let the island of golden rod remain, for now.
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A wider view of the area I mowed. Most of this should come back as red clover next spring. Part of the joy of living in the countryside is planning and anticipating future growth as the season's change.
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An angus cow in the distance on my neighbor's farm. Taken from my front porch.
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The lower field used to be completely covered with this sage grass in the winter time. I let it grow tall for many years. Click here to see how it looked in 2008. Now only a few patches of this grass remain. I like the way the silk seed heads look in the October sun. I really need to reseed this stuff before next summer.
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A doe standing proudly in my back yard.
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This fawn is curious about something. Perhaps it hears me sneaking up to take this photo. I think it it the same fawn (now grown) that Kudo and I came across back in June.
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Another doe in my woods.
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| The sun is beginning to set. Looking west off my front porch. |
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| This is the same view only with a more typical October sky. Clear blue and glorious. |
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The clear evenings offered easy viewing of the stars and planets. Here are Saturn (left) and Jupiter (right) over my house just after sunset.
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Moon set early one morning.
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Saturn and Jupiter posing with the Moon on an evening later in October.
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| Just a sliver of the Moon adorned this October sunset. |
Highlights: Many days featured bright clear skies. The sweet fragrance if elaeagnus filled the air for most of the month. Still a lot of hummingbird and butterfly action. Warm weather did not bring a lot of leaf color but what little we had was yellow. Hurricane Zeta was downgraded to a tropical storm when it came rolling through here early this morning. But that was more of a "lowlight."
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