Last week it was warm enough to swim laps outside. By the northern standards of my youth, fall has not yet fallen in spite of the mid-December date. Yellow Cowpen Daisies and Zexmenia, pink and yellow Lantana, and even some lingering purple Fall Asters are exploding in showy blossoms.
Top notch, but certainly not my grandmother’s notion of fall color.
Still, as the temperatures drop (as they did this morning with things below freezing), the leaves do turn. The tiny cat-tongue leaves of the Cedar Elms reliably turn bright yellow. The Texas Red Oaks might turn deep burgundy. Dense clusters of Flame Leaf Sumac ignite.
In a good year, we get a week or two of in-between time where the flowers are still blooming and the leaves begin turning. This has been a good year.