By Bill Ward
Published in The Boerne Star on November 11, 2005
The angle of the morning sun was just right so that the whole area seemed to glow golden-brown as I drove across Rebecca Creek in Comal County today. Fall color! And they say we don’t have seasons in Texas. Then suddenly the road rose up out of the stream valley, and I was back to the drab green and gray of late summer.
At the moment, fall foliage is mostly yellow and yellow-brown and mostly in the valleys along creeks and rivers. In a couple of weeks, the color of autumn will migrate up onto the forested hillsides with shades of orange and red.
Already there are small spots of red in the hills. That harbinger of Hill Country fall, the flame-leaf sumac, is living up to its name. Under those cloudless skies last week, the dark-crimson sumac bushes “burned” as brightly as I ever remember.
Fall yellow was creeping into the riparian woods because of the dry weather, but the late-October frosts really did the trick. Cedar elms turned various shades of yellow, and bald cypress began their quick change from green to golden-orange to rusty-brown. Here and there, the yellow cast was interrupted by bright-red leaves of Virginia creeper vines trailing up into the tree tops.
This week I noticed that several understory shrubs and trees are rapidly adding to the yellow creek-bottom foliage. One of the most conspicuous is the spicebush with its large oval-shaped leaves turning lemon-yellow. American beautyberry, another common understory bush in this area, is becoming pale greenish-yellow. In some spots along Cibolo Creek near Boerne the brightest yellow leaves are those of the sycamore-leafed snowbell.
During some falls, cottonwood trees add a sort of aspen-yellow to the creek bottoms. Even the common sycamores, in the right light, can enhance the fall colors sometimes. But sycamores are ify. Too often their leaves just turn dull brown. Of course, there is the local stream-valley tree that never fails to please, the big-tooth maple. Its autumn foliage ranges from yellow to golden to red.
It shouldn’t be long before the hillsides, too, will be brighten by autumn leaves. Red oaks are my favorite tree for fall foliage. Their color rivals that of big-tooth maples, and, unlike the maples, they are not hidden away in the canyons. Another tree for spectacular fall color in the Boerne area is the escarpment black cherry. During some Novembers, the cherry-covered hillsides just northwest of Boerne are bright yellow, almost rivaling the aspen peaks of Colorado.
Unfortunately, two locally grown trees that are especially beautiful in their fall foliage are exotics, the Chinese tallow and Chinese pistache. I’m almost tempted to have a little sympathy for Chinese tallow when it takes on its fall color. However, that feeling is fleeting when I think of how it is invading the banks of Cibolo Creek and other riparian habitats of the Hill Country. Chinese tallow is on all the lists of most dangerous invasive exotic plants in the US.
As Jack Morgan wrote in a piece about fall trees, “there’s a non-native tree called Chinese pistache, which those of us who love native trees would like to think is native. Lord knows it’s drought and heat tolerant, and it gives a great show.” So true, but it would be a good idea to select for male plants if you purchase any for your yard. The female produces many seed, which easily germinate. This plant is becoming increasingly invasive, even in this area.
The good news is that nearly every native tree and shrub which produces the fall color we enjoy in the countryside can be successfully grown in a home landscape. You can enjoy the fall colors close up, from your own windows.
