A Few Questions
Is the Katsura tree I planted outside the back porch in Connecticut giving off its subtle burnt sugar smell this fall?
Is the sourwood tree -- how I loved that little tree -- turning vermillion red right now? Are the lily of the valley white flowers on it dangling amid its red leaves?
Do the bottlebrush buckeyes glow golden yellow in the fall sun? Has the little one, newly transplanted before we left to fill a gap in the hedge -- has that one caught up in size to the rest of the hedge?
Are the black gums -- the tupelos -- bright orange-red this year? Some years they were less so. What about this fall? Do they catch the pale autumn sunlight in the morning and light up the edge of the woods?
And the Japanese stewartia tree? Some years it was brownish, some years fire engine heart-stopping flaming scarlet in fall.
Has the flowering dogwood gone all wine colored and rich mahogany red this year?
And the low growing dwarf sumacs -- are they fiery crimson now? I planted a few in my Santa Fe garden and they do very well, but their fall color is a mottled yellow, maybe because of the alkaline soil here?
Do my trees miss me? I love our home in New Mexico and was not sad to leave our garden in New England at all. Fall color here, with golden aspens and red ash trees and blue skies, is lovely.
But sometimes, especially in autumn, I wonder. Do the trees I left behind rustle their leaves and remember me a little? I remember them.
Is the sourwood tree -- how I loved that little tree -- turning vermillion red right now? Are the lily of the valley white flowers on it dangling amid its red leaves?
Do the bottlebrush buckeyes glow golden yellow in the fall sun? Has the little one, newly transplanted before we left to fill a gap in the hedge -- has that one caught up in size to the rest of the hedge?
Are the black gums -- the tupelos -- bright orange-red this year? Some years they were less so. What about this fall? Do they catch the pale autumn sunlight in the morning and light up the edge of the woods?
And the Japanese stewartia tree? Some years it was brownish, some years fire engine heart-stopping flaming scarlet in fall.
Has the flowering dogwood gone all wine colored and rich mahogany red this year?
And the low growing dwarf sumacs -- are they fiery crimson now? I planted a few in my Santa Fe garden and they do very well, but their fall color is a mottled yellow, maybe because of the alkaline soil here?
Do my trees miss me? I love our home in New Mexico and was not sad to leave our garden in New England at all. Fall color here, with golden aspens and red ash trees and blue skies, is lovely.
But sometimes, especially in autumn, I wonder. Do the trees I left behind rustle their leaves and remember me a little? I remember them.
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