It’s been a long hot summer and now it is finially the first day of fall. The autumnal equinox marks the first day of the season of autumn. On the date of an equinox, the Sun is above the equator and night and day are of approximately equal length.
For most of us the first day of fall is less about equinox and more about cooling off. There are also those Charlie Brown type memories of jumping in mounds of leaves and making a wonderful mess of a once clean area. Of course, you need good trees for the right kind of leaves.
Maple trees have good colored leaves, but they are pretty small. Pecan trees have a lot of leaves, but they are not all that pretty. Sweet gum trees have the nasty habit of putting those pointing seed pods in the mix. For my money the best tree for leaves is the Sycamore Tree.
My first day of fall memories may not be about Sycamore Trees, but my autumn memories in general certainly are. Sycamore trees have huge leaves, the kind of leaves that could cover a dinner plate. Ok, they are not exactly banana trees in size, but for a normal type of tree that looses it’s leaves-deciduous is it?-Sycamore Trees are the best. Sycamore trees are generally frowned upon now because they drop large leaves, golf ball sized seed pods, and even shed their bard from time to time to reveal a lovely white skin under neither. Sycamores are wonderful trees and I love them because of all the things they do.
A couple of good Sycamore Trees will fill a yard with leaves, maybe not on the first day of fall, but over the course of a few weeks. As they dry they give off a wonder scent. I have always been fond of the smell of Sycamore tree leaves, especially after they have dried out a bit and turned brown and brittle. Charlie Brown would have loved jumping into a pile of Sycamore leaves, they have a nice aerdynamic quality. So on this first day of fall 2008 I let my thoughts wander back to the old neighborhood with its tree lined streets and I miss all those Scyamore trees.
But I can look out my window right now and see a neighbor’s Sycamore tree. I can sneak over and grab a couple of leaves when the mood strikes me. I think I may wander over and see how this Sycamore likes the first day of fall.
