Now I'm here to say that fall is colorful in Texas, it's just that it is spread out for so long that we don't notice it. Take for instance the white mulberry tree in my front yard. It starts changing colors about the middle of August. First the leaves begin to turn gold around the stem ends. The gold gradually moves out from the stem to the end of the leaves. The leaves are beautiful since the veins in the leaves stay dark green and the tree start to look as if it is covered with leaves made of lace. The leaves will fall off just as gradually as they changed color. By the first frost in late October most of the leaves will have fallen off and the rest will turn deep gold almost overnight, then turn loose of the tree and blow away. The sycamore is another early turner. It has started now that August is over. Down on Sulfur Creek and along Barton, you can see the trees beginning to yellow. The sycamore leaves turn quickly from green to bright yellow then to a warm brown color. As the leaves fall off the tree, the creeks become clogged with the dead leaves. If you are unfortunate enough to have sycamores on your lawn, you know how large the leaves are and how quickly they fill up the trash bags. As fall moves on the oaks and elms will begin to change. If we have an early freeze with some warm weather following it, we'll have a red fall. That means that the leaves on the red oak and the sumac will blush scarlet against the cedar green. The live oak will not drop its leaves until spring but that's another story. © Copyright 1986,1996, 1998 by Sulfur Creek Enterprises, Austin, Texas |
 Return
to Sulfur Creek |
Return to Writing by PK Gibson | Return to choose another story |