Between Our Steps: The Consequences of a Hot, Dry Summer in Grey & Bruce
From wilted shrubs to early leaf drop, Grey-Bruce landscapes are struggling through a hot, dry season that has muted Ontario’s fall colours.
COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION
The first colour of fall this year was brown. Not just lawns in late August, but the leaves on so many shrubs wilted and then withered to a crisp brown. Birch and aspen leaves changed colour, not to yellow but brown.
There’s a joke that even in a drought, weeds stay green. It was true that the only green in lawns that were not watered was weeds. And ragweed—allergy nemesis that it is—stayed a healthy green everywhere.
But burdock turned brown overnight from top to bottom. Burrs almost jumped off the plants. Along the side of the road, weeds that found a crack between the sidewalk and the asphalt lost their green colour and faded to a pale beige. This drought was so harsh in some areas that many plants we call weeds lost their lustre and turned brown.
As September progressed, maple trees started to turn. On some trees, a section would turn a deep shade of red while the rest of the tree stayed green. On a few trees, every leaf turned an orangey red. However, these leaves had a tenuous hold on the tree. The slightest gust blew them to the ground. On my neighbour’s maple tree, which I can see from my living room, the leaves have lost their lustre and started to crinkle, their edges turning brown.
Oak trees started to shed not leaves but small branches. On the ground were groups of five or eight leaves still attached to their common branch. I watched branches on the oak in front of my house let go of the larger branch. I am guessing that all this year’s new growth will be lost.
With the early September rains, things seemed to perk up. Plants looked plump with a healthy shade of green. But then another dry spell. Temperatures were moderate, with cool nights and not too hot during the day, but moisture stress was still an issue. More shrubs turned brown. Cedars and spruces showed brown patches.
Each tree is making a judgment call about what is more important: making food or retaining water. Dropping leaves is one of the ways deciduous trees help themselves survive the winter. Their leaves will come back in the spring as usual.
But I worry about coniferous trees. They can shut down branches, but for them, the action is permanent. When pines and spruce abandon a branch or a section of their tree, those brown branches are dead. They will not come back next spring. However, the moisture stress this fall is so severe that some of them are cutting off branches to conserve moisture.
Some of the early maple leaves were a brilliant red colour until they fell. Then, they quickly turn a reddish beige, leaving a pale carpet on lawns and sidewalks. As they dried out, breezes sent them rattling along the road.
In mid-September, I saw an unusual, deep reddish brown. Some of the weeds were this colour. Some of the shrubs. I struggled to name the colour. After some research, I settled on brick, not the bright red of some houses, but a darker red, a colour that suits a dignified house.
It felt wrong on the side of the road, on the border of the river.
Finally, as September inched to a close, yellow came to the ash and birch trees that had not lost their leaves. These shimmered on misty mornings. At this point, whole maple trees turned red, but again the leaves’ grip on the branches was tenuous. Almost immediately, the ground beneath these trees was carpeted with leaves.
The Sedum flowers have turned a pinkish-red. Sumac trees and cranberry bushes are scarlet. Asters, wild and cultivated, are purple. My rose bush has one blood-red flower. Corn stalks are golden, and soy beans are their usual brown.
But with leaves falling as soon as they turn, the wild, wonderful landscapes of colour that we are used to may not come this fall. The plant world is visibly struggling with a summer and fall with too much heat and not enough rain.
We’d love to hear what you’re noticing in your corner of Grey-Bruce. How has the dry summer and early fall affected the trees, gardens, or landscapes around you? Share your photos or reflections with Owen Sound Current and help us build a collective picture of the season.
Thank you to sponsors of The Owen Sound Current Writers’ Fund, who make these community contributions possible. Contributions from the community do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.
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