grumpysutcliffe

Acers just beginning to turn leaf at Westonbirt Arboretum, October 2014

A tree turning leaf from verdant green to fiery vibrancy is like nature’s lightbulb moment – a flash of brilliance before winter sets in. The riotous conclusion, hidden since budbreak, appears from almost nowhere. Mother nature throws up her showgirl-skirt ruffles with abandon; flashes us her rainbow knickerbockers and chucks on her gaudiest baubles.

Cotinus coggygria at Waterperry Gardens, November 2014

Plain old Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn) and Rubus fruticosus (Blackberry) in a local hedgerow, Bedfordshire

This sudden flash of brilliance soon gives way to the sedate evergreens and minimal silhouettes of winter. November is a month when glow, hue and luminescence are at the forefront of the imagination; the absence of summer colours and sunny brightness gives way to the brazen blaze of senescent fire you find in autumn colours, the reds, oranges, yellows and pinks which light up…