More Fall Finery

These pictures were all taken yesterday. Today was mostly gray and rainy although not nearly as stormy as was predicted. We only had 0.2 inch of rain. I walked around outside a bit, but not really enough to call it a hike.

At the west side of the cemetery a row of Ailanthus (Tree-of-Heaven) is growing in front of the maples. The Ailanthus is invasive and should be removed, but meanwhile it has nice color and texture contrast.

This is the line of trees on the edge of the cemetery. I've shared it a lot because it almost always looks nice in the fall. There are lots of aging sugar maples in the cemetery which usually produce good color.

Not all fall beauty has to have vibrant colors. Sometimes neutral tones are just fine. Here are faded flower heads of New England Aster with the Rabbit Tobacco in front.

I really liked the textural interest of this one! In the front is the fully mature Fall Witch Grass, with a field of asparagus gone to seed behind that.

I had brain fog this morning, but managed to reclaim most of the day. Even wrote in Vacation from DMS a little bit.

See To the Tunnel of Trees

Tree of Heaven Seed Pods

 
Saw another large Ailanthus tree this week. It took me a minute to figure out what seed pods I was seeing. I still can't get used to really large specimens of this tree. I also can't believe people planted this tree on purpose as an ornamental. But it does grow fast! Here's what I saw looking up.



I don't recognize the mature bark yet, either, so I thought for a minute I was seeing an ash. Then I saw a cluster of the seed pods on the ground. That was helpful!



The twisted pods with a single seed in the middle of each is the giveaway. The dots are remnants of the flower. Ailanthus (also known as Tree of Heaven translated from the Indonesian word ailanto) has separate male and female trees, which is known as dioecious. So this is a female tree.



Once you get this image in your head, you'll always recognize the seeds. Only one species, Ailanthus altissima, grows in temperate climates. It's relatively short-lived, but can grow two feet a year, so a 50-foot tree is mature.

Because it's become such a weed tree it's also been nicknamed Tree of Hell. In the 1800s it was used as an ornamental and for urban plantings, but it suckers like crazy and smells terrible. It's almost impossible to eradicate if you have one in your yard. When you mow it, ten more will sprout.

	See Biggest Ailanthus I've Ever Seen
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