Here Comes the Color!

Every early October I start to wonder if our leaves will ever turn.  That explosion of autumn color seems really late this year, especially as the days stay summer-warm and the nights remain almost balmy.  But just in the past two days I've noticed the change has begun.  From solidly green on Monday, the hillsides and riverbanks on Wednesday began to glow with as-yet-restrained yellows and oranges, while here and there a Red Maple bough or a vine of Virginia Creeper is punctuating the landscape with flashes of brilliant scarlet. Here are a few of the colorful scenes I've encountered in the last few days.

The forested banks of the Hudson River are warming up for their spectacular autumn extravaganza.

Scarlet leaves of Virginia Creeper adorn a  river bank covered with mosses and lichens.

A little cluster of Mycena leaiana mushrooms nestles into a niche in a fallen log.

Multicolored fruits dangle from Bittersweet Nightshade vines.

The goldenrods still offer their pollen to foraging bees.

Hawthorn trees are now thick with small scarlet fruits.

Brown Knapweed holds larger, showier flowers than the related (and much more numerous) Spotted Knapweed.

Our last flower to bloom, Witch Hazel now unfurls its ribbon-like petals.

We can always count on Red Maples to be the first to gift us with their brilliant scarlet foliage.

At Moreau Lake today, the fall foliage show has barely begun.  But just wait! In a week or so, those forested mountains and lakeside trees will offer a crazy quilt of gorgeous color.