Stone Mountain, October

 A year ago, fresh from Texas, I noticed the wind in the canopy of the forest. We get squalls in the Piedmont this time of year. The sound of wind rushing through a gazillion leaves is still lovely. 

Now I notice the color of the leaves in the beech forests. It’s a peculiar shade of green. I’m reminded of the emerald trees in children’s picture books. It’s the bright color used in the kind of illustrations where the leaves are just circles, rather than shaped like leaves. Beech trees spend the summer in the shade of the taller tulip trees. But many of the tulip tree’s yellow leaves already are on the ground. Sunlight is coming through the canopy in a way that just wasn’t possible a month ago. The beeches are having a moment.

Among the fall bloomers:

• Camphorweed, Heterotheca subaxillaris, with bright yellow flowers. I’d paint my truck that color if the Wise Woman would allow it.

• Crownbeard, in genus Verbesina, another yellow flower, but this one with long, drooping petals.

• Bluecurls, Trichostema dichotomum, with light purple flowers that have curled stamens. The stamens on the flower I examined formed a circle.

Strawberry bush, Euonymus americanus, bloomed in May, but it’s put on fruit now. As the Missouri Botanical Garden observes, the flowers aren’t showy but the fruits are. I can see, vaguely, a resemblance to strawberries. As the fruits ripen, they split open to release the seeds. One of the common names is bursting heart.