When we moved to Central Texas, I knew we were giving up the purest experience of the four seasons — intense, icy snowstorms giving way to daffodils, tulips and forsythia, followed by steamy days with leafy green trees lazily swaying overhead. And the fall. It’s easily my favorite of the seasons, and not just because my birthday falls in September. We were married in October, and our main design motif was autumn leaves in all their glorious colors. My special passion is for the vivid intense reds displayed by the maples — trees in fairly short supply in these parts. No one’s tapping trees for syrup around here, that’s for sure.
This part of Texas is dominated by evergreens and oaks that put on displays of yellow and orange, but I didn’t expect any reds. So, as the autumn has come on, I was surprised to see a beautiful little tree start to stand out against the overwhelming green behind our house.
I did a little leaf-collecting and online research, and determined that this is some sort of sumac tree. (I’m thrilled to see that it apparently flowers yellow in summer, as well.) The grasses around here — plenty high where we probably should have been mowing — also turn an orangeish-red this time of year, adding to the feast of color.
In so many ways, I’m discovering we aren’t having to give up as much I expected.
[…] and parties were a bit all-consuming. Anyway, as I’ve said before, I honestly thought I was giving up the four seasons when we moved here, and, while things are certainly different, I’m finding amazingly […]