September's Colors

     September is a part of autumn in the Mid-Atlantic States.  And that most lovely of months in this area has many lovely plant colors that make days outdoors enjoyable and inspiring. 
     Some of the first warm colors of the month are on the foliage of a variety of trees, including flowering dogwoods, staghorn sumacs, red maples, sugar maples and sassafras.  The colors of the leaves on the first three tree species are red, while those on the sugar maples are orange and those on the sassafras are red, yellow or orange on the same tree.  Sassafras, incidentally, has three leaf shapes on each tree- a single lobe, two lobes like a mitten and three like a fork. 
     Dogwoods grow in the understories of woods and lawns, sumacs on woodland edges and in hedgerows and red maples in wooded bottomlands and on lawns.  Sugar maples flourish in forest uplands and on lawns, while sassafras sprouts along hedgerows and rural roadsides.
     Poison ivy and Virginia creeper are vines that crawl up trees, fences and other objects along the edges of woods, in hedgerows and other, at least partly sunny, environments.  In September poison ivy has yellow, red and orange leaves on the same vines, while creeper foliage is always bright red, all of which brighten their habitats.  Some people even have awnings of creeper vines above their porches to block the sun in summer and for the attractive red foliage in fall.  These vines have berries (the creepers have deep-purple ones on red stems) that a variety of birds, including American robins, eastern bluebirds and cedar waxwings eat during fall and winter, adding their feathered beauties to those of autumn.
     Several kinds of "weeds" in cultivated fields also have bright colors in September.  These include the red stems and leaves of pokeweed, lamb's quarters and redroot.  Pokeweed has purple berries that berry-eating birds consume.  The other two kinds of weeds produce tiny seeds that feed field mice and a variety of seed-eating birds, including sparrows and finches. 
     Several types of plants have colorful berries in September, including multiflora rose bushes and crab apple trees.  The berries of the roses are red while those on crab apples are yellow red or orange, depending on the species.  A host of critters, including white-tailed deer, black bears,rodents, foxes wild turkeys and a variety of other berry-eating birds, consume those fruits in autumn and winter.
     Several kinds of flowering vegetation also brighten the landscape in September.  The buttery blooms of bur-marigolds brighten the shores of streams in sunny, meadows.  The tiny, yellow flowers of goldenrod in clusters and several species of wild asters, some kinds with white blossoms and others with pale-lavender ones, beautify bottomland and upland pastures and thickets.  And, at the same time, asters with deep-purple flowers and a variety of petunias also bloom on lawns during this lovely month of colored leaves and flowers.
     Red apples, bright-orange cow pumpkins, multi-colored gourds, and ears of yellow field corn missed by harvesters beautify the sunny orchards and fields they grew in during summer.  Some of the apples are eaten by raccoons, opossums, skunks and white-tailed deer while the corn is consumed by deer, muskrats, Canada geese and mallard ducks.  All those animals, and others, make the orchards and fields more interesting.
     Common milkweed pods open in September and spill their brown seeds.  Each seed has a fluffy, white parachute that carries the seed away on the wind, spreading the species far and wide.  Scores of seeds and fluff on each pod is an interesting sight on the edges of fields and along country roads.
     September is a beautiful month in the Middle Atlantic States.  It is a good time to be out to see the various colors of the local vegetation, and wildlife.