Mariton: Fall Can Be Subtle

by Tim Burris, Preserve Manager.  Photos by Carole Mebus.

October 17

I like to remind people that around here fall color changes continually for weeks. We have a great diversity of trees in our forests, and that means that we don’t have one peak.  In areas with only a few species of trees that change all at the same time you get the spectacular peaks, but they also disappear overnight.  On a recent tree walk I pointed out 20 some species of trees at Mariton, and didn’t cover everything .  That means our fall colors last for weeks with a continually changing palette of colors.  Carole took the photo above on the Tuesday Walk, October 17.  The photo below was taken on October 31.  The change didn’t happen all at once, and has been a continual pleasure for me, and others who walk the trails regularly.

October 31

This past Tuesday, we walked around a couple of the fields and it gave us different perspectives of the same views.  This had dramatic effects on the brilliance of some trees, and also captured the subtlety of others.  So, don’t be afraid to backtrack on the trail to see things from a different view.  For instance, as we walked across one of the fields Carole saw the view below of the goldenrod in the sunlight.  She told me that the camera wouldn’t be able to capture what we were seeing with the sun glinting through a million dried goldenrod seeds.  Perhaps, but seeing the photo reminds me of just what I saw.

Goldenrod in sunlight

Around here, fall colors last a long time, so take advantage of Nature’s gift and get out often.