snowfan Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 It seems like it's every year that people say "it's not a great year." I just think that fall colors are generally pretty muted around here because we have so many varieties of trees that turn at different times. There's never really a time when everything pops at once, so it never really overwhelms. Very true that we do not peak all at once in the local 'hoods. The mountains to the west.....especially the higher terrain in WV is blessed with getting a fairly uniform peak, which makes for incredible color out there. Locally, we get hot spots of color. A street lined with maples that all turn red at once, the cherries at the tidal basin turning orange, etc. I have woods directly behind my house and see a huge mix of still green, dead, yellow, red and orange. Each tree is at its own stage. There are some good trees out there though. Here's one from this weekend showing all of its color...orange to yellow to green from top down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I think the last 2 years were really good for color and many of us stated so on here. An exception to the rule, though. At least in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Very true that we do not peak all at once in the local 'hoods. The mountains to the west.....especially the higher terrain in WV is blessed with getting a fairly uniform peak, which makes for incredible color out there. Locally, we get hot spots of color. A street lined with maples that all turn red at once, the cherries at the tidal basin turning orange, etc. I have woods directly behind my house and see a huge mix of still green, dead, yellow, red and orange. Each tree is at its own stage. There are some good trees out there though. Here's one from this weekend showing all of its color...orange to yellow to green from top down. I absolutely agree that there are some really nice looking trees around, but they get kind of washed out with the general muddle of colors we get here. You have pick and choose them - there's generally not an overflowing abundance of color anywhere at any one time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Color is decent to good here now. It is more step by step than places in New England plus our 'natural' trees are not super brilliant in general. But it's still a quality area for fall IMO. Problem here is the weekend may screw up true peak by knocking a lot of leaves off just before it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Some fall pics thru Monday, plus a link to the one a day thingy. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/10/30/fall-in-d-c-the-road-to-high-color-in-october-photos/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Well done, Ian. The leaves-plastered-on-sidewalk Woodley Park pic and the geese pic so say fall to me..."Fall's equivalent of stopping to smell the roses" - well said, exactly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nw baltimore wx Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Nice pictures, everyone! Ian, the Fallidays album shows how beautiful DC is in the fall. Good work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowfan Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Nice article, Ian. Very nice pics. Nothing wrong with focusing on NW DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Thanks all! I do usually try to get out of the city at least once for fall but with no car it is a bit tricky to get anywhere worthwhile. The 'photo a day' thing for April was a good exercise and has a good result so figured might as well do it for fall. Don't expect a winter one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Went to the Tidal Basin this morning. Knew it's probably a little early but with the weekend forecast I'd be nervous about some good leaf loss this weekend. Will do a post with Kevin Ambrose on it for Monday. Some nice spots, and I may try to go back by mid next week to see what it looks like after the wind but it's pretty striking looking at this years pics vs last yrs.. the trees just look kinda sick this year comparatively. Either that or last yr they were just uber healthy--know it was a good color year overall around here so that could be it. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ianlivingston/15653012576/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 And I would say overall many leaves are 'damaged' in some way in my travels. Either burnt crispy ends or some sort of fungus. Guess that's the dry late summer then wet/mild recent period showing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dailylurker Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Great pics. I think the oaks are about a week later then the last couple of years. The white oaks are starting to pop those beautiful purples. My favorite fall color tree is the hickory tree. They always produce vivid yellows/orange colors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 And I would say overall many leaves are 'damaged' in some way in my travels. Either burnt crispy ends or some sort of fungus. Guess that's the dry late summer then wet/mild recent period showing up. Same thing in my hood. "damaged" is a perfect adjective. My favorite maples and ashes on my street were terrible compared to recent years. Sections of the trees look good but overall had a tired look. Oaks were the best around here but yellow is kinda boring compared to orange/red. The 2 maples in my front yard started dropping early with way too much brown. Overall a lackluster year. Nice pics btw! I don't get down to dc proper much since my gov contracting days ended. I used to enjoy my gw pkwy - 14th st bridge commutes in the fall. DC is an attractive city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhotoGuy Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 I have not been able to get out as much as I planned, I have been working the Early Voting Election Days. Some shots from yesterday.... Some mallards hanging out in the colorful reflections... Some pretty trees along the Chesapeake Bay... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Very nice pics, all. It's more of a treasure hunt this year but still some nice spots. I've noticed the burnt, crispy leaves too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Rock Creek Park is pretty close to peak in this area. Worth braving the winds. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ianlivingston/15509598489/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhotoGuy Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Setting sun through the woods at Patuxent NWR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 Wow! Amazing pic, Ian! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Thanks. I was excited to see it esp since I only took one like that hah. Got there a bit late but managed to work it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowfan Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Nice that they shut down car traffic there on the weekend. Dont have to worry about it messing w the shot. Nice pic. And nice pics as well, photoguy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 I've actually never been up there for some reason. I have been to Peirce Mill a handful of times but always have stopped there. I knew of the bridge but didn't realize it was that close... about a 2 mile walk from home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dailylurker Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Great shots. I've been really enjoying this trend and all the photos. Looks like we will have another week of color. The wind over the weekend didn't cause to much damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowfan Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Two thing I learned this fall season......sweetgums are sweetgums and not some variation of maple. I'm not sure why I always thought they were maple trees. Ginkgo trees produce the best yellows around here. Despite their supposed nasty smell, I wish there were more of them. Their unusual leaf also makes for something different in a pic. Also, aside for some hot spots, things are getting very dull out there. Lost a ton of leaves in the woods behind the house this weekend. Can now see a good 50-60 yards back into the woods with no problem. Still some maples and oaks yet to reach peak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Yeah this weekend owned a lot of color. I noticed it was trickier today on the streets. Most of the maples are largely bare except the few that are still greenish for whatever reason. Ginkgo are cool. They peak late in the city. Maybe still 10 days or so off on them. They make a nice scene when the leaves drop too. Never really noticed the smell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nw baltimore wx Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Two thing I learned this fall season......sweetgums are sweetgums and not some variation of maple. I'm not sure why I always thought they were maple trees. Ginkgo trees produce the best yellows around here. Despite their supposed nasty smell, I wish there were more of them. Their unusual leaf also makes for something different in a pic. Ginkgo are cool. They peak late in the city. Maybe still 10 days or so off on them. They make a nice scene when the leaves drop too. Never really noticed the smell.I've been interested in Ginkos since I did a semester at the Institute of Applied Agriculture at UMD some twenty years ago. There are some great specimens in one of the neighborhoods that I run through, and when they peak, I'll try to remember to get some photos. You guys are right about the fall color. It's pretty spectacular. And the other thing that's cool about them, is that they drop all of their leaves in a very short time, which like Ian said, makes for some good photo ops.Anyway, here's the little that I know about them. Ginkos have been known to be excellent city trees because of their adaptability and deep root system that prevents sidewalk damage. As a result, in many cities across the country there have been literally thousands of them planted. Unfortunately, in some instances, the planners didn't consider the sex of the trees, and now female trees are causing a stinky problem (google "Ginko city tree"). Even in the instances when the sex of the tree was considered, some of the male trees are (surprise!) now producing fruit. I seem to remember it being something like 15 - 20% of these "males" began bearing fruit after about ten years or so. The reason is because most of the male plants were actually a graft of a male plant onto a female root system. Given time, the tree matures, and the male top can take on female traits. As a result, the now-preferred way to ensure a tree is male, and will not eventually produce fruit, is to propagate by cuttings. Next spring, I may see if I can take a few cuttings from the trees in the nearby hood. There is a grove of really old trees, and none of them produce fruit, so I'd feel pretty safe planting a couple in my yard. Anyway, sorry for the long-winded post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 That's interesting stuff. The one cool thing I know about ginkgos is that they're a "living fossil" - they're essentially unchanged for more than 200 million years, a single species with no known living relatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dailylurker Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 That's interesting stuff. The one cool thing I know about ginkgos is that they're a "living fossil" - they're essentially unchanged for more than 200 million years, a single species with no known living relatives.That's funny. I was just going to post that. They are beautiful trees. Not a native tree to Maryland though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowfan Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 It was just last year in DC that a contractor accidentally cut down the oldest ginkgo in the city. The tree was estimated to be from the 1870s, I believe and was just over 100 ft tall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhotoGuy Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 The fog and clouds helped bring out the fall colors along the pond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhotoGuy Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Some nice color popping out locally after a pretty dull fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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