Autumn Visit: October 20 - 23, 2023 In 2023, foliage season was a few days later than normal and I caught it a few days before peak. The colors were a vibrant mix of reds, purples, and greens, with some yellows and orange mixed in. The advantage of being slightly early was that all the major species, except for the Yellow Buckeye, still had all their leaves, making identification easy. Next time I will have to visit in late autumn when I expect there to be a lot more yellows and browns. The first day of my four day visit was showery - I got caught in a thunderstorm as I stood in the Pignut Hickory / Red Hickory / Blackgum NE corner of Lot C. Got soaked to the skin walking back to the car with no tree offering sufficient shelter along the way. The next three days were cool and sunny. Most of my most interesting finds this time were in the northern section of Lot C.
Grove of Black Oaks (Quercus velutina) This time, the stream in the northern section of Lot C was dry and I followed it upstream, pushing through dry evergreen thickets to explore the northern section of Lot C and try to trace the northern boundary using a compass. I came across a grove of four good sized Black Oaks fairly close to the stream on its northern side, confirmed via the blocky bark and frilly-edged acorn cups scattered underneath. Two pictures of each tree are shown below. Circumferences at chest height were 4ft 10.5", 4ft 9.5", 5 ft 1.5", and 5ft 0.25" respectively.
Some of the frilly-capped Black Oak acorns I collected are shown below.
Largest Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea) From the NW corner of Lot C, I decided to walk back along the ridge, downhill towards the east. Although it is covered in evergreen thicket, it was always possible to find a path through as it was not super dense. I came across a Scarlet Oak, about 3ft 3.5" circumference, about the size of the previous few trees I had located in the past. This tree had a very abrupt transition from blocky lower bark to streaky upper bark - see second picture below.
I then caught a glimpse further east along the ridge of what looked like a more substantial canopy of deeply cut leaves - could this finally be a decent sized Scarlet Oak? The closer I got, the more I realized it was! A large healthy tree with a 5ft 4" trunk circumference, classic deeply cut leaves, and a bonanza of characteristic acorns littering the ground beneath it. I was so happy to find this perfect large specimen of a Scarlet Oak!
Some of this Scarlet Oak's acorns are shown below. On close inspection they all had the classic indented rings around their apexes.
Massive White Oak (Quercus alba) Just past the grove of Black Oaks, still on the north side of the stream in Lot C, comfortably within the northern border, I came across what I think must be the largest White Oak on my property. Unfortunately I had forgotten the tacks I use to help secure the end of my tape measure on the trunk, so I was not able to measure its circumference, but I'm guessing it was approaching 10 feet (actually later measured at 7ft 6").
Below is a drone picture of this White Oak - it's the rusty orange canopy on the lower left. The tree on the right with the purple canopy is a large Blackgum.
Mountain Pepperbush (Clethra acuminata) Also along the stream in Lot C, I came across a shrub with cinnamon colored peeling bark. I later identified this as a Mountain Pepperbush. There are other specimens along the southern stream in Lot B.
Surprise clearing The most difficult boundary to trace was the western boundary of Lot A as it required a lot of pushing through brambly undergrowth on steep terrain. I was surprised to come across a clearing, the only clearing on any of my lots, straddling the border between Lot A and the conservation area. The ground is covered with brambles and creepers except for one small dead tree smothered in creepers. I wonder why trees don't grow here - I will have to try to figure that out on my next visit. The second picture below is a very large Northern Red Oak growing at the edge of the clearing - on the side facing the clearing it is covered in creeper vines.
Recovering Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) The Eastern Hemlock in the NE corner of Lot C looked like it is recovering well. From above by drone it looked like it was thriving - see picture below. The one at the boundary of Lot B and C, which is more in the shade, did not look so great.
Other Interesting Trees I did quite a bit of exploration of the southern end of Lot A. There are some very large Tulip Trees there on the northern side of the spring fed stream. Interestingly, every Tulip Tree seems to have thick vines hanging from it.
Got some better pictures of the Glaucous Willow (Salix discolor) at the NE boundary of Lot C. In the second picture below, on the left in the foreground, is an invasive Tree-of-Heaven, which I later removed. There is another one in Lot A, but I lost my hand-saw before I could remove that one - next time.
I also traced out the western boundary of Lot B, pushing my way through the evergreen thickets. I came across this pale, platy-barked Red Maple along the way, just inside my boundary. There is a nicer, bigger one just outside my boundary. Red Maple bark is so variable, from smooth, to shaggy, and now platy.
Another very large Chestnut Oak just inside the western border of Lot A.
Unlike previous years, some of the Chestnut Oaks had acorns scattered on the ground. As with all white oak acorns, the scales of the caps are much less well defined versus those of red oaks.
I measured the circumference of one of the large hickory trees towards the western border of lot A: it is 7 foot 5.5" at chest height. It is likely a Pignut Hickory, judging by the fact that all of the leaves I could see had five leaflets, as opposed to the Red Hickory which often has seven leaflets per leaf. Like all the other hickories in my forest this year (and last year), there were no nuts on the ground.
I was surprised to find a Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) tree very close up the hill to the north of where I park my car at the end of the access road - actually a very nice specimen with vibrant autumn colors.
The two pictures below compare fallen twigs from a Northern Red Oak and a Black Oak. The Northern Red Oak has red petioles and rounded terminal buds. The Black Oak has yellow petioles and angular terminal buds.