The idea for this Thursday Tree Love post about the tree that signals the end of summer popped in my brain a few days ago, as my husband and I were coming home from shopping. As we came around the corner of a road not too far from our place, I noticed a tree was already putting its fall colors on. I said something to the effect of, “Cut it out, you 🤬 🤬 🤬 tree – summer’s not over yet!” to which my husband laughed and responded, “Don’t you say that every year around this time to that same exact tree?
He’s not wrong. 😂
Then I realized that every year when I see the early autumn leaves, I think about getting some pictures of this distant early warning tree (and incidentally, that song came on the radio on the way home), but I never actually do. So I figured that making it a subject for this #ThursdayTreeLove would help me finally get around to doing it. And as you can see, I did!
It ended up being a bit trickier than I anticipated, as the tree is situated in a somewhat bad spot for stopping, either in a car, or by foot, as it’s on a sort of blind corner. Given the 93F/34C temps outside today, it was an easy decision to have my husband drive me down to take some shots out the car window, rather than park nearby and walk. I got about a dozen from across the street, then another dozen-ish after we drove down the street and came back in the opposite direction. The twelve best are below.
But before I get on with the pictures, a quick shout out to my WordPress blogging friend Parul to say thank you for hosting this awesome blog hop every couple of weeks, especially knowing what a challenging time you’ve had recently. If you want to join in the Tree love blog hop fun, it’s wicked easy – here’s the description from her latest post today, called #ThursdayTreeLove – 111:
Thursday Tree love is a photo feature hosted on this blog on every 2nd and 4th Thursday of a month. The next edition will go live on September 9, 2021. If you would like to play along, post a picture of a tree on your blog, tell me where did you spot the tree and link it back to this post.
If you don’t see the pingback, please leave a link to your post in my comments section. Please make sure that your post’s link is showing up on this latest edition. I will link your posts on my blog in the next edition and spread some love. Let’s come together to appreciate the beautiful nature around us.
As for these photos, as per my usual FYI – these were taken not too far from my Durham, NH home with my Nikon (no tripod this time, just my arm braced against the door of the car…lol). All were resized, then cleaned up a bit with PicMonkey (mostly the exposure and sharpness, but with a few other tweaks like vignette filters for the corners here and there).
Now for the photos…
The tree that signals the end of summer.
“First, the technical term for this winged seed is samara, which refers to a specialized fruit that is designed to travel long distances from the parent tree. Some ash and elm trees also produce samaras, although the maple’s samaras are the very best at flying.”
EDITED TO ADD: In chatting with @ninahaskin in the comment section on Hive, I remembered that I completely spaced mentioning in my post that the best thing about those copters, besides throwing them back up in the air and watching them spin back down, was to split the green seed at the end in half, and sticking it to the tip of your nose! Like this (and yes, there’s a reddit for that)! 🤣
Hope you enjoyed my photos of the tree that signals the end of summer. Happy Thursday Tree Love everyone!
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My photographs are taken with my trusty Nikon,
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A nice photo story Traci that is a reminder to me to take time and LOOK at nature rather than pass it by quickly.
We’ve barely had a summer here this year, so we’ll hardly notice the shift to autumn.
What a shame, April! I wish I could share some of our hot summer weather with you.
I don’t think we’d want it as hot as you’ve had it, but a bit of sun and warmth would have been nice.
I loved this post! I haven’t seen any trees beginning to change colour here in Toronto yet, but it should start happening soon.
Loved your photos Traci! And the added info as well!! Some plants growing in our part of the world also fruits that are Samara. Their ‘flying’ action is really amazing!!
Love your shots, Traci. The close ups, the red leaves are so lovely. I love seeing pictures of the fall season. The foliage, the colors are just drop dead gorgeous. Thank you for joining and I am looking forward to seeing you back tomorrow.
Oh yes, those helicopters! That sticking to the nose brought back childhood memories. Even in New York City, we had maples! I’m in Southern Vermont right now and I’m seeing the early signs of turning on the trees here. Tomorrow I return to my home in New York State and – well, I’m always dragged into fall kicking and screaming (because I know what comes next – WINTER.). Once the kicking and screaming stop though, I love fall.
I loved every picture you posted here, they are super:) thanks for sharing
Gorgeous! The first sign of a new season is always a shock. I felt exactly the same the other day, when I saw a tree in spring bloom. I am not really ready for winter to be over yet, believe it or not.
haha! If the same tree has to get yelled at every year, it sure has to be a big signal. 😀 😀
I love this story. 🙂
And those close ups!
Such pretty leaves. Now maybe I’ll be able to tell the difference between and Red Maple and a Sugar Maple.