October 28, 1999 - Fall colors are hitting their peak°I`OAr -The Saffolk,Timds° October 28;01999
Fall colors are hitting the
We took the library bus into the city
to see "The Phantom of the Opera"
and on our way in we couldn't help but
notice the fall color starting to show up.
Our oaks may not match the splendor
of the maples of upstate, but nonethe-
less they have their own fall show in
their soft maroons, earthy browns and
washed -out yel-
lows. All along Focus
the expressway
Barbara and I ON
played a fall NATURE
color game of
what tree or by Paul
shrub or vine is Stoutenburgh
that? as we
picked out the scarlet of the burning
bush or the yellow leaves of the climb-
ing bittersweet. As yet the bittersweet
has not split its seed pod to reveal its
brilliant red - orange capsule of seeds.
It's then you should cut the berry clus-
ters and hang them up to dry. There are
few dried bouquets that can rival this
colorful creeper. But let me warn you,
when the charm of your colorful bou-
quet is finished, do not dispose of it in
your compost or back yard, for eventu-
ally those colorful seeds will fall and
germinate and in no time your back
yard could be a jungle of uncontrol-
lable bittersweet vines.
While we're on the subject of taking
over, down south there's an alien
invader that's literally taken over thou-
sands of acres of land. It is called
kudzu. A relatively new invader prob-
lem, it has spread throughout the south
and has now been found in small areas
here on Long Island. And yes, even
here in Southold. It has a leaf very sim-
ilar to a grape leaf and when first seen
seems quite innocent and attractive.
But like the old saying goes, "You can't
judge a book by its cover." Kudzu hides
its true mission and that is to take over
and smother out everything in its path.
I've seen this takeover and it looks like
a giant green blanket that covers trees,
shrubs and the ground in an even,
undulating mass. One has to see it to
appreciate the magnitude of its spread.
So if you see a vine that has somewhat
grape -like leaves, beware. To properly
identify it, drop off a leaf at the
Cooperative Extension building on
Griffing Aven, =-i Riverhead for iden-
tification. We all t. re to be alert to this
potential problem.
We noticed another climber as we
sped along, but this time we recognized
it by its clusters of five leaves now in
scarlet color. It was Virginia creeper
showing off. It is not poisonous but its
fellow climber, poison ivy, is. This one
we should all be aware of. It, too, dons
its own special fall colors of reds and
browns. This three - leafed climber can
grow to enormous size. I've seen stems
three inches in diameter that
go to the top of giant trees. It,
like most climbers, has the
ability to send out small root
hairs that attach themselves
to whatever they're climbing
on. It could be a tree, a fence,
or even a building. There's a
beautiful old barn that
Hallockville Museum Farm
is going to move onto their
property. It is covered by
years of growth of poison ivy.
There's going to be a major
problem just to get the
attached ivy off the barn so
that the crew can work on it.
Then what do you do with
the massive vines? You can't
burn them, and even if you
could, the smoke from the
burning poison ivy vines is
just as potent, or even more
so, as the ivy itself. I found
that out the hard way years
ago when clearing our prop-
erty to build our house. Yet
with all its drawbacks, poison
ivy in its fall colors � almost
makes up for its faults.
Bright yellow leaves
As we spea along, every
once in a while we'd see a
tree of golden yellow. We
have yellow leaves on the
hickory trees on our own
property but the yellow here
we were seeing was much more vivid.
We couldn't place it for we saw it for
only a fleeting moment. But then the
traffic slowed down (as it always does
on the expressway) and we were able
to make out the slender leaves of the
honey locust. This is not a typical Long
Island tree but one planted to beautify
the roadway. Once identified we spot-
ted it often as we went along.
Another colorful addition to our
game of show- and -tell was the clumps
of staghorn sumac. It's the one that has
the big pointed cluster of maroon
berries and the compound leaves that
by now have turned scarlet. It's too bad
more people don't use it as a planting
around their property; it's a fast -grow-
ing ornamental that could add much to
the scene. Perhaps the reason it has not
been used is that when people hear the
name sumac they inevitably associate it
with poison sumac, which we have
sparsely here on Long Island, but I
guarantee you, a person will be hard-
•
lr peak
is available to all. A great idea and a
true example of recycling. We're lucky
in the sense we have a woods that acts
as our recycling center. Each year we
take wheelbarrows upon wheelbar-
rows into the woods and spread them
out to be left to nature's forces of
decomposing.
As we sped along the
expressway in our comfort-
able bus we passed through
the pine barrens that of late
have been in the forefront of
conservation news. This all -
important area of our island
has been left relatively unde-
veloped. It's an area of scrub
oak and pine that has quietly,
through the years, protected
Long Island's greatest natur-
al resource — fresh water.
As Barbara and I picked
out the many scrub oaks
whose leaves are now turning
into their last colorful splurge
before falling, we noticed a
yellowing on the branches of
the pines. To most it would
appear to be some sort of
defect but like the oaks and
other deciduous leaf - bearing
trees, the pines also drop
their leaves. It's hard to real-
ize the needles of the ever-
green family are actually
their true leaves. The pines
lose their needles gradually
through the season. It's a
continual process. Over time
the inner needles slowly turn
yellow and eventually fall off,
to be placed by new greenery
on the outer branches. This is
how the tree expands its
growth, outward and upward.
Walk under a mature pine of any kind
and you'll be walking on a thick carpet
of pine needles.
We did get to see "The Phantom of
the Opera" and I must say it was one of
the best shows we've ever seen. The
trip also afforded us an opportunity to
take in the landscape as we traveled
along. That's the nice part about
nature. No matter where you go, if you
are in tune with her, she'll be there to
make your trip worthwhile.
Correction: Last week I said the
Sanford Brickyard was located in
Greenport. Thanks to Florence San-
ford for calling it to my attention: the
Sanford Brickyard was actually in
Arshamomaque.
Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
Although these colorful fall clusters of bittersweet are
often picked for dried bouquets, this climbing Invader
can also take over your back yard, so beware it doesn't
get out of hand.
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pressed to find it. Another nice feature
of the staghorn sumac are its berry
clusters that can be made into a cooling
summer drink much like lemonade.
Burning leaves
As fall moves in most of us will be
involved in one way or another with
raking leaves. I'll bet some of you can
still remember when it was common to
burn leaves. I remember it well and can
still recall that wonderful smell of
leaves burning. Today most dispose of
their leaves by "bagging them up" and
then lining the bags up along the road-
side to be picked up by the town. They
are then taken to the landfill where
they are ground up for compost, which
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