WNTS/ENTS-
While larches may not be familiar to most Westerners or Easterners per se, to
Northwesterners and Northeasterners they may. Per the
snippet below from "The Wild Marsh", it stands out on paper (only
deciduous conifer) and in the woods (as a conifer losing yellow needles in the
fall). A hint of seasonal change could happen this soon, or as late as the
beginning of September.
By mid-September, larches in Yaak Valley, Montana can be expected to start
their change in color, per Bass on page 272:
"The larch are starting to glow
at their tips- the needles on the uppermost branches turn yellow first, with
the wave of gold progressing steadily downward through each tree, each forest,
then, as autumn progresses, an amazing thing to witness in any one tree, the
color gold washing through the entire tree, guilding it, much less to witness
that slow, beautiful fire happening to an entire mounainside"
By mid-October, larch needles are
still intact. Per the October chapter, page 287,
"The larch and aspen and
cottonwood hang golden for as long as they can, as do the drying brown leaves
of the alder and blood red leaves of the red-osier dogwood. They're able to
hold steady, even in their won dying, though as the winds of autumn increase,
more and more of them swirl through the woods, in patters like smoke, gold
whirling spirals and dervishes that for a moment or two seem to take on the
shape of a man, or a deer, before the leaves settle down randomly into the
autumn-dead grass, like gold coins spilled from someone's pocket."
The aspen and cottonwoods are first
to 'spill their coins', but on page 288:
"The larch hold their needles
longer, holding them all the way to the bitter end of autumn. The broadleaves
of the other deciduous trees flap and twist and rattle in the wind and are
wrested free, day after day, but the larch needles hang in there, until their
cool gold wave is all the color-besides the blue-green of the spruce, fir,
pine, and cedar-that is left.
The larch have been gold now for so long that you have almost become accustomed
to the beauty, have almost come to believe it is your unending due. A few
trickle off, steadily, through out the Fall, bur for the most part they hold
on, these strange, reluctant, dinosaurs, with one foot in the prehistoric past
of the ancient conifers and another tentative foot in the relatively modern,
sunnier and somewhat daring camp of the deciduous trees.
When they do let go-usually in late October- it is one of the great sights, of
this landscape.
It will have been increasingly windy, all through October, but finally the wind
is too much- or rather, just enough. Sometimes, at night you will hear it when
it comes roaring through, and the sound and excitement of it will lift you from
your bed, just as the needles are being lifted from their branches.
The big wind often brings rain just behind it as well, which helps peel the
needles from the trees; but some years the wind is dry, though no matter: still
the air is filled, suddenly and finally, with what must be literally tons of
flying gold needles, gold needles like darts or tiny arrows; and if you go out
on the porch at night, you will be able to feel the needles striking you but
will not be able to see them in the darkness. They will land in your
hair, though, will coat your arms and feet, and in the morning, when you rise
and look outside, the world has been transformed, sculpted in gold, with every
sleeping, inanimate shape pasted with gold needles, and all roads and trails
pave with gold".
While leaves of planted larch are not yet turning in
Anchorage, the alpine vegetation on the Chugach Range at the edge of town are
turning from a vibrant green to a golden yellow. Canadian geese are gathering
in the early
mornings and practicing formations, tracking skills (I’m guessing!), and honking
volumes and cadences. The average highs and lows have been in gradual decline
for several weeks now…not time to pull snowthrower maintenance yet, but…
-Don
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