Fall on the Post Oak Savannah

  From time to time ,I like to write and show something on this blog that is in keeping with the title I chose for it. The weather that this part of Texas has experienced the last couple of years, I think, has created some unusual coditions for plants and trees. Almost unheard of drought in 2011 followed by a wet winter,spring, and , for the most part summer. The weather pattern over fall 2012 has been dry again, with warm days and cool nights, with few frosts. I drove around the countryside this afternoon to see the leaf color that has really changed over the last week or so. I had read that the current weather conditions can contribute to stronger leaf color and this seem to be holding true. Here are a few shots of woodland edges with the reds of Blackjack Oak and Sumac,  the yellows and browns of Post Oak and  Water Oak and the bright yellows of Elm.

   I made a chance "treasure find" on my travels recently near where I took these photos today and I returned to take these pics that  I`ll share  with you here. In what was proabably once a homestead many years ago, that is now a waste area near a gas well site, I found a large stand of Spineless Prickly Pear with now faded Salvia coccinea growing amongst the fans. I`ve never seen the Scarlet Sage in the wild until now.

   At home , there are several signs that we are deep into the fall. Our Sweetgum tree is really showy, with the side away from the sun yellow and the side facing the lowering sun red. The Sweetgums are  prevalent in certain parts of the oak savannah very near here. This tree has just begun to produce spikey round seeds the last two years.

   The Little Bluestem is in full inflorescence now and will remain so until I cut it to six inches in late February to simulate fire.

   It has to be getting close to Christmas when the Yaupon Holly looks like this.

The Scarlet Sage is somewhat frostbitten and largely seeding now , however, the Mealy Blue is still just stunning with it`s brightest colors of the year.

   I want to share a recent discovery we made on the property, a huge honey bee hive literally dripping with honey and comb high in a slender Water Oak near the creek. These must be the bees that have been swarming my Eleagnus and other flowers. They are working hard for the coming winter. I took this with my max zoom  beacuse it`s probably 25 feet high in the tree.

   I`ll leave you with a view of the meandering creek nearly covered with rapidly falling leaves. I hope you all are having a great holiday weekend and here`s hoping it will rain soon. I have a lot of seed planted in the prairie patches and they need RAIN!