Our Maple

I took pictures of our  maple (actually it is our neighbor's but close enough to the property boundary that we rake about half the leaves) as it changed this year. On October 10th it was still mostly green.

By the 24th it was red at the tips of the branches.

Three days later – on the 27th – it was red all over.

On the afternoon of Halloween a lot of leaves had fallen and the sun shining through the remaining leaves caught my eye.

Yesterday – almost all the leaves had fallen and it was obvious that our neighbor’s yard crew had blown the fallen leaves and left exposed dirt. I am going to rake the leaves that are covering grass but leave the ones that are on dirt. Next spring I’ll need to consider what we can do for the area under the maple that has lost its grass as the tree has gotten larger. The roots of the tree are so dense that I don’t know that even shade loving plants will survive…but that is a project for next spring.

For now I’ll savor the last few leaves on the tree and the smell of leaf tea as I rake way the leaves from the grass and into the forest.