Explore Outdoors ~ Maple-Watching

 

Red maple has two seasons of color: early spring when their bright red flowers open, and early fall when their leaves turn red. The flowers appear before the first leaves - our maples began blooming around April 10th this year. Later in the spring, before the leaves are fully developed, the trees produce winged samaras which spin like helicopters as they are released. The samaras are (you probably guessed) ... red!

 

Other maples produce their flowers at different times, and the sugar maple doesn't release its samaras until fall. So there's plenty of time to maple-watch.

This week look at the deciduous trees in your yard and neighborhood. Those are the trees that lose their leaves in the fall.

• Do they have flowers? What do they look like?
• If they have flowers, are insects visiting them? Which insects?
• Do the trees have their leaves yet? What do they look like?

Find a tree with flowers that you like. Then visit it as often as you can and take photos as it changes over the seasons.