University of Guelph Arboretum (Monday evening special)

[vaneramos]

This is the first of two instalments of photos taken Saturday afternoon when I went out with Danny. This first set was taken at the Arboretum. With fall colour at its peak here, we took time out from the Studio Tour for a walk. The weather was particularly autumnal: blustery and unpredictable, rainy deluges giving way to gashes of sunlight and racing clouds. We were told it hailed, too, probably while we were in Wimpy's eating lunch. Finally we saw a rainbow from the windows of the Trafalgar Building, a site of many artist studios. djjo's shots of that were more interesting than mine. My set of downtown photos will follow tomorrow.

















The final photo shows what used to be the largest stand of mature white pines in this part of Ontario. It was decimated by a tornado about 15 years ago. About half of the large trees still visible here are spruce.

A year ago August a tornado struck a nature reserve near our cottage, on the border of Algonquin Park, and decimated the most significant remaining stand of old growth white pines in the area. Their location was quite remote, so I had never seen them, although my Dad and I canoed and hiked within a few kilometres of them several years ago.

Mother Nature is perverse.

Comments

[robearal.livejournal.com]

Red, yellow, orange,
How I miss autumn colors.
Instead, I get brown.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Then these colours are for you.

[progbear.livejournal.com]

I'm lucky to live close to a neighbourhood street with sumac plantings that turn brilliant red in fall. And of course, most of the soundwalls along the I-80 corridor are draped with deciduous Boston Ivy, which seems to be confused by the San Francisco climate and turns red well ahead of schedule.

We bought a vine maple (Acer circinatum) specifically to add some much-needed fall colour to our garden. They're just as pretty as Japanese maples (Acer palmatum), but are native to northwest California. And are also far less expensive than Japanese maples (ours cost $35, Japanese maples of comparable size I've seen cost a lot more than that).

Sadly, ours doesn't seem to be doing very well, with brown patches on the edges of the leaves. Hopefully, the rain will do it good. Maples like the rain.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

We have a couple native maple species on our cottage property that make excellent ornamental shrubs with good fall colour: striped maple (A. pensylvanicum) and mountain maple (A. spicatum). They require shade and moderate summer temperatures, so they probably wouldn't survive in your area, but in this part of the continent they offer excellent substitutes for Japanese maple.

Apparently there's a disease spreading that is predicted to devastate maples across the continent. Sugar maples are particularly vulnerable, silver and red maples less so. I wonder whether it will effect the smaller ornamental species.

[vaysha.livejournal.com]

All the magic of fall~thank you!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

You're most welcome.

[chrisglass.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Wow, it's the amazing shrinking Glass. Good thing I have excellent eyesight. 8-)

[halation.livejournal.com]

the sky is so fascinating in the first photo. wow.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

It's just a hint of what was going on overhead that day. The clouds were dramatic, changing every moment.

Take Your Time

[perkk.livejournal.com]

I'm just so glad we're having an autumn which lasts more than three days. The last handful of years it seems around here we went from Green, to Brown, to Bare in under a week. While it made raking much easier, it didn't help my disposition. Fall is my favorite season.

Re: Take Your Time

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Fall used to make me uncomfortable because I hated winter too much. Now that I've started making peace with snow and ice, autumn doesn't feel so ominous, so I like it more.

[eloquentwthrage.livejournal.com]

Mother Nature is perverse.

If this is true, it's only because we've made her that way...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

We ourselves are a part of nature gone berserk.