Crow’s Nest: November isn’t all gray and brown…

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager.

We’re definitely past peak for fall color of our trees around here, with just some of the oaks on the ridges changing from orange to brown. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a lot of colorful beauty around us. Above, the garden bed outside the intern apartment still has asters in bloom contrasted with backlit spikes of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). Below, a dogwood near our visitor center looks great.

And yet another rainbow, of which I will never tire seeing. I’ve seen more rainbows in the last four years than in the previous 46 (or something like that). Or I can probably say I’ve seen as many in the last three years as I did in my first 30. It is definitely getting rainier here, and this year is about the rainiest I can remember. This one was at sunset as a storm cleared out.

There are other things flowering in our forest, including the witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana) in our woods (below).