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Whoa.....STOP! This post is budging in ahead of the golden-soybean-field post which was scheduled for today.
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This brilliant patch of sumac is competing with the STOP sign for RED attention at this rural crossroads!
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During Sunday dinner yesterday, I suddenly got the notion to take an afternoon drive to hunt for red sumac and vines to indulge in gazing at.........AND, photographing!! I told Husband he could go along if he promised not to have a cow everytime I wanted to stop and take a picture! Random stopping by the side of the road for the sake of his shutter-bug wife is just not his thing! It makes him nervous, I guess........someone might see us and wonder what we're doing........oh, no! That's the reason I'd rather make photo forays ALONE most of the time!**
He did decide to go along, agreeing to my terms, of course! At one point, he identified this bush below as a "Cinnamon Sumac". I had never heard that name before. On Wikipedia it appears to be Staghorn Sumac.
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In case you live in Iowa and would like to know a scenic route for autumn colors that takes only a couple hours to complete.......here's one: Go east of Oelwein on Hwy. 3; turn north on Hwy. 187 at Starmont school; go to Arlington, then take W51 to Wadena, and on to Elgin, and then to Clermont; take the Great River Road along the Turkey River to Eldorado; then turn south on Hwy. 150 and go up the hill to the Goeken Park overlook; then continue south on 150 to West Union and back to Oelwein, completing your scenic circle! For the next few weeks I can guarantee you'll find much lovely fall color there! The trees themselves have not changed color, yet, but there's plenty of other autumn-glow-providers in the fields and roadsides.
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These golden soybean patches were on the hilltops above Elgin (and, there is ONE orange-red treetop in the distance):
**I just love these blazing red vines entangled in the trees! They put on their autumn finery several weeks before the trees do. I believe the official name of this type of vine is "Virginia Creeper".
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**Believe it or not, this part of northeast Iowa is known as "Little Switzerland", due to a landscape of wooded hills and deep valleys. When I was a kid, every fall we'd take a Sunday drive up here, exploring the winding country roads and feasting our eyes on the bright-colored leaves. Its a good area in which to SLOW DOWN and just enjoy the surrounding beauty!
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I hope there are lovely autumn colors decorating your neck of the woods, too!!
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11 comments:
Back in 6th grade we had to memorize a poem which mentioned Sumac. I loved that poem, but have no idea what it was called or even enough of it to look it up
:( Guess I learned it really well!
What beautiful fall colors you have in your neck of the woods already! Here, autumn has barely begun, athough we do have a row of trees that have been turning yellow and dropping leaves for a week already, right beside the milking parlour. I'm not sure what they are, but they were meant to be for a windbreak in the prairies, and our daughter gave us some.Possibly they have the 'early' prairie characteristics? Dairymary
These photographs are breathtakingly beautiful. We don't have fall colors in Southeastern New Mexico yet, but I noticed when we drove just an hour toward the mountains in Ruidoso and Cloudcroft that there were touches of changing color but wow! your color is scrumptous!
These photographs are breathtakingly beautiful. We don't have fall colors in Southeastern New Mexico yet, but I noticed when we drove just an hour toward the mountains in Ruidoso and Cloudcroft that there were touches of changing color but wow! your color is scrumptous!
I love this. Boy I missed so much by being gone sat and sun. Love you site;)
Oh I am so not ready for fall yet. But I must say, nothing is more lovely to me than sumac. I've often thought of grabbing some in a ditch and trying to transplant it. Works with lilac okay. LOL. just cut it way back to about 8 inches and I think it would work. I have way too much yellow and very little red or orange in my timber for my taste.
Thank you SO MUCH for posting such beautiful pictures of Iowa! (I know the roads that you were talking about!) I was born and raised in Dubuque, and miss Iowa something terrible!! Thank you for giving me a bit of "home".
Callie
Hi, caution!
I don't think I've ever heard of a poem which includes the word "sumac".....and, it evidently was a memorable word for you!
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Hi, dairymary!
Hmm.....I wonder what that tree of yours is that's dropping leaves already. On yesterday's drive we saw hardly any trees that had changed color and no falling leaves yet. We haven't had a frost yet.....usually that's what it takes to jumpstart the color changes in the trees.
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Hi, odd chick!
The sumac right around here where we live is not as bright red as what we saw on the drive yesterday, as shown in the photos.
You mention Cloudcroft again.....that name is just fascinating to me for some reason.
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Hi, adventuregirlwannabe!
Thanks for dropping by! The drive yesterday was like an adventure for me! Shows you how dull my life is!!
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Hi, Sherry!
Yes, maybe you should try transplanting sumac. Right here on our farm we don't have any, so I should try digging some up, too. I just could hardly believe the bright colors we saw yesterday!
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Hi, Mrs. B/Callie,
Glad you could stop by! And, that you are familiar with the area shown in the photos! I think its just lovely up there in the hilly parts of northeast Iowa. The Dubuque area is beautiful, too!
I love sumac...beautiful colours! We need some cooler nights before our colours change. We've had record high temp's on the west coast this past week.
I love Sumac! Afriend gave me 4 babies this spring. Two are already over 5' tall! I'm so anxious for them to become more dominate in my space!
Aren't Sumac wonderful? Funny you should post about this because I posted a few days ago about this as well. We have the staghorn sumac and it is just brilliant right now.
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