Act One of peak Fall foliage in Vermont is now nearly over with the Sugar and Red Maples mostly gone. It was a gorgeous year, and I’d say most or even all the folks on the tour buses, some three million souls who visit in the fall, got their money’s worth!

Act Two, what I call “post-peak,” is when the Red Oaks come on stage. While they are not as numerous as the maples, there are now whole hillsides covered with them and many individual trees now show up throughout most of the forests. Red Oaks, much more numerous than White Oaks, have spread from the south and their acorns continue to be dispersed by squirrels and Blue Jays and, of course, gravity.

In general Red Oaks have pointed leaves while White Oaks have rounded leaves but young Red Oaks may also have rounded leaves. And, just to keep life interesting, not all Red Oaks are red in the fall, and some White Oaks can be red! My recommendation to new tree huggers is to just not worry about it. Honestly, isn’t it a bit like getting people mixed up which happens all the time?!

I’ve especially enjoyed a young Red Oak just outside the window I see every day when using my computer.

On a short walk today, I found many different colors on Red Oaks, all, of course, lovely!

 

There is one more short foliage Act before the curtain of snow falls, and I’ll share some photographs of that in an upcoming post. Meanwhile, enjoy the oaks!

05 Nov This entry was published on November 5, 2018 at 7:16 pm. It’s filed under Fall colors, John Snell, John Snell Photographer, Leaves, Trees, Vermont, www.johnsnell.photography and tagged Fall, fall foliage, Oaks, Red Oak, Vermont, White Oak, www.johnsnell.photography. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.