As we exit this wonderful month of September, we are surrounded by color. The phases of leaf color that began a month ago continue. Some of the trees with earlier change from green to yellow have already dropped their leaves, while others have not yet begun to change.
Now we get a blend of many trees in various shades of autumn. It's hard to keep our eyes in front of us as we commute through these yellows of birches, basswoods and sugar maples and the reds of dogwoods, sumacs and red maples. This annual autumn show will continue through the next few weeks, and I look forward to the tamaracks glowing in the swamps in October.
But a closer look into the trees tells us that the red leaves of late September are not the only arboreal reds at this time. Many of the Northland trees have put forth their fruits of the season and about a half-dozen now are covered with reddish colors that last after the leaves have fallen.
Red fruits began forming back in July. Here among the green leaves on hot summer days, pin cherry and red elderberry held their ripe products. Along with the red raspberries from nearby bushes, they advertised to the local birds and small mammals that fresh food was available. This scheme worked well, and all of these berries quickly vanished.
Now, other trees are using the same methods to get noticed. Bright red nestled in green leaves of summer is easy to see. But as the leaves drop, the reds are even easier to find. And that is exactly what the trees want. Fruits and berries hold seeds. Some variations do exist, but most keep the seeds inside the outer edible part. Apparently, the tree is inviting animals in to take and eat their fruits so that the seeds, often tough and indigestible, can be carried elsewhere, an attempt at seed dispersal.
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Being bright red, the fruits will catch the eye of a hungry passerby. Often these feeders are birds, but others such as squirrels, chipmunks and bears take note and stop for a snack. Or the fruit gatherer may be a hungry human.
Probably the most notable of the red fruits ripe on trees now is the apple. We watched the blossoms on the pleasant days of May and took note of their growing size throughout the summer after bees pollinated these aromatic flowers. Then, one day recently, we saw that they had swelled up large and took on a red coloration -- too good to pass up. The product of the apple trees in the yard may be filling a basket in the basement now.
Not as big as the tame apples, several trees are now beaming with red fruits as well. On a recent walk, I passed several crabapples that were loaded with smaller varies of apples. Some were yellow, but most were red. At the edge of a woods, in a damp site, I saw that the highbush cranberry branches were so filled with juicy berries that they drooped far over. I usually wait until late in the season to harvest them.
Mountain ash trees, often in yards and parks, also hold umbels of red-orange fruits. In the Northland, we have both domestic and wild mountain ashes. Both kinds are ripening now.
Along roads and trails, I find that the sumac and hawthorn berries are ripe. Though they grow near each other, the plants are quite different.
Sumacs have large compound leaves; many of them bright red now. The berries are tightly clustered and tiny. Each is covered with a hairy growth, with large seeds within. We would probably not consume them were it not for the "lemony" taste. Many have steeped these berries to produce "sumacade," a lemonade-type drink.
Hawthorns are cousins of apples and, like that group, they have small "apples" as fruits. About only one-half inch across, we're more likely to call them berries. Unlike sumacs that show off such a bright red at this time, the leaves of the hawthorns are long gone. I have seen some of these trees devoid of leaves already by early September. Baring the branches early reveals the reddish fruits, but also the small thorns that are part of the tree's name.
With another example of plants making use of animals to spread their seeds, we now see plenty of red fruits and berries among the red and yellow leaves as we begin October.
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Retired teacher Larry Weber is the author of several books, including "Butterflies of the North Woods," "Spiders of the North Woods" and "Webwood." Contact him c/o budgeteer@duluthbudgeteer.com .
