Fall Colors IV

What a difference a week makes. Last weekend our trees were beautiful. During the past week we have had a steady rain of leaves from the trees, and now most of them are bare. There are still individual trees that look nice, but they usually have a backdrop of naked trees.

On election day I found a couple of streets with a lot of maples that were still in peak color.
The oaks have been changing color this week.
The sweet gum trees put on one of the most spectacular fall displays with leaves that are yellow, orange, scarlet, and purple. They might be more commonly planted if they did not have such a funny fruit or seedpod or whatever it is called. This one is near Halleck Center at St. Joseph's College
Here is one of the oaks north of the science building at SJC. There are quite a few oaks in this grove that keep their brown leaves on the branches all winter long.
The hackberry and willow are among the last to change color and drop leaves. This is the hackberry tree by Larue Memorial Pool.
There are quite a few decorative pears along Bunkum Road. They have pretty leaves in the fall but the fruit on them is tiny and awful tasting. SJC recently planted a bunch of these by the Core building. What a waste--if you want to plant a pear tree, why not plant one that will provide decent pears?

The majority of the trees are bare or nearly bare. A few of them look really nice even without leaves. The one below you will see in the cemetery if you drive into town on Bunkum Road.

Last week the city crews were out picking up the raked leaves from the street. Next week they will be picking up what is left. Fall is almost over and winter will soon be here.