Autumn in East Texas

Texas is not really known for fall leaf color but we really have an incredible variety of trees shrubs and vines that deliver breath taking rainbows of color. I stopped a few times going into town a week or so ago and shot about 20 different species of leaves in just two miles.
The first photo is actually a vine in a neighbors yard that is covering the entire trunk of her massive oak tree. If you look closely you will see that this plant falls under the Rhyme “When you see Leaves of Three, You better leave them BE!”
This vine creeps along the ground until it finds either a tree or wall or fence that it can attach anchoring roots to and within a few years the vine will be at the very tops of the tallest trees. Once the vine matures it begins to bloom profusely attracting all sorts of native and non-native pollinators to the high percent of the sugars in the nectar, but this nectars comes from miniscule blooms.
In the fall there are tens of thousands of BB sized white fruit on these vines. The fruit is eaten by over 40 species of birds during migration and these birds digest the fruit surrounding the seeds. The seeds pass through the gut of the birds and often get dropped hundreds of miles from the mother vine creating many more vines the following year.
This is of course the common Poison Ivy Vine here in the USA. While it is a tremendous asset and food and nectar source for wildlife the milky white sap contained inside EVERY part of this plant will create a profusion of boils, blisters and open sores once it gets inside the human body. Burning of the leaves and or woody vines or even the roots of this plant and then inhaling the smoke will create massive damage to the lungs of a human.
These leaves vary in color from vine to vine or probably from different locations and depending on the composition of the soil these leaves will be canary yellow, flaming orange, screaming candy apple red or the darkest, deepest shades of marroon, pratcially a blue black red on occasion.
We gardeners must be aware that when weeding our flower beds that there WILL be sometimes hundreds of these new seedlings sprouting in the rich soils we created for our flowers.
In contrast the second photo is from the Sassafras Tree. The leaves will sometimes have fingers, sometimes just have a mitten thumb or sometimes not any thumb at all.
Early settlers learned from the native Indians to dig up the roots of this tree from the deep sandy soils where it grows. They dried the roots storing the thin bark covering from the roots to boil in water and make herbal teas from this root.
Entire roots were once dug up, chopped up, added sugar to and allowed to ferment in barrels of water and this created the common drink we all refer to as “Root Beer”, once a mild alcoholic drink but now relegated to being a “Soft Drink” created with “artificial” flavors.
Cajun cooking relies on the dried and powdered leaves from this tree to create the unique blend of flavors for their “Gumbo” stews. These powdered leaves are added to the mix AFTER the four to six hours of cooking required to prepare a true Cajun Gumbo. These aromatic leaves are stirred into the pot JUST before you serve the stew.
Leaves are often just like the words we humans often use. What one person views with awe, beauty and grace another person will view quite differently! May we all treasure and hold dear the beauty in what we see and hear and have the wisdom and kindness to let the bitter leaves blow away with the winds. Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, texas

6 comments for “Autumn in East Texas

  1. Thank you so much Keith for taking the time to write such and informative piece!
    I have only seen poison oak in the North. How do you control the ivy – if you want to? I was never allergic to the poison oak until I lived in SW Oregon where it grows like a wild grass and then I became so sensitized to it that I would have problems with it blooming a couple of miles away.
    We don’t have much variety around here compared to Texas, but the colors are different each year which gives a sort of variety.
    Colleen

    —-

  2. We have plenty of poison ivy in Ohio.  With so many people allergic to it, we do have to control it.  I am lucky in that I am not sensitive to it, but I still handle it with care.  Best weed killer is “Ortho” Poison Ivy Killer.  It makes a foam when you spray it so that you know where you sprayed.  After a couple of weeks, the plant is dry and dead.  You still have to be careful when handling it.  You should cover your entire body and use gloves.  I would use surgical ones.  Then you could use vaseline over the esposed part of your face, if you are really sensitive.  I save a couple of the plastic bags that our newspaper comes in, put my hand inside the bag and holding onto the plant, I roll the plastic over the plant, enclosing it inside.  Then off to the trash can.
    The leaves are really pretty, though, aren’t they?
    Donna Dietsch  Columbus Ohio
  3. It is so interesting to think about how poison ivy is so useful in the environment, yet can be down right dangerous at times to people.  I’ve had similar thought about fire.  We get horrendous wild fires around here and one year a fire was burning all along a mountain ridge that parallels this long valley.  It seemed like everyone around, including my son and I, were parked along the valley like one big outdoor movie, watching the fire jump and run.

     

    Colleen

     

     


  4. It is so interesting to think about how poison ivy is so useful in the environment, yet can be down right dangerous at times to people.  I’ve had similar thought about fire.  We get horrendous wild fires around here and one year a fire was burning all along a mountain ridge that parallels this long valley.  It seemed like everyone around, including my son and I, were parked along the valley like one big outdoor movie, watching the fire jump and run.

     

    Colleen

     

     

     



  5. Happy to report I took out a couple poison ivy vines with a chainsaw today, along with some wild grape.  Given time and the right conditions, they can form “jungle type” vines going high into massive trees such as sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), a tree that typically surpasses a hundred feet here.  In heavy snow, wind or ice conditions, they are often responsible for downing these giants, or, as happened in the great ice storm here in 2004, breaking the tops off like matchsticks. 
    Needless to say, I was very careful where the chainsaw chips were aimed, and “cleaned” the blade by cutting the grapevines after. 
    Our Sassafras have long since lost their leaves.  Here, it’s often hard to find them in Summer, but Fall brings those bright red leaves on the ground as a reminder.  The red oak and burning bush saplings similarly show themselves only in late Fall, holding those wonderful red leaves till the last.  It’s only been a week or so since those have fallen here.
    Drew Mc Farland
    Granville, Ohio … about 25 mi. from Donna.


  6. I have a friend here from Pennsylvania and she says one of her biggest regrets about not being back there is missing the year ’round beauty of the forests.  I grew up with green, but I’m learning that those who are not used to it, find it boring.

     

    Colleen Northern California native

     

     


Comments are closed.