One year I refused to sweep the leaves for a week, and I was soon knee deep in them on my front porch. Having tried that once, now I sweep them daily until the leaf drop is over. What I like to do is to study the leaves a bit and to name the species of trees they come from. In my forest, white oak, red oak, tulip poplar, hickory and American beech are the most common species. I also find a few others, like chestnut oak, sassafras and wild cherry. Sometimes I find an American chestnut, but these are likely from a younger tree that has not yet succumbed to the disease that devastated this species.
The leaves are blown from all over, who knows where, really, so if I find an unusual leaf, trying to then locate the tree it came from is pretty much impossible. That doesn’t stop me from looking. Sooner or later I will be successful with one of them.
1 comment:
Exactly the same situation here further east, Carolyn. I swept outside the back door this morning, and had to do it again when I went home for lunch. Fortunately, the leaves are large and light sycamore leaves for the most part. I know what I'll be doing at least part of the coming weekend...
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