Four kinds of cultivated, woody plants in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, burning bushes, barberry bushes, Japanese red maple trees and Bradford pear trees, have red foliage late in October and well into November. They are abundantly planted on lawns for their beauties, including their striking colored leaves that are quite attractive late in autumn. And all of them spread into the wild via their seeds.
Burning bushes have red leaves and red berries in fall. Being a shrub, they are often planted in decorative rows, that also shelter birds.
Barberry bushes are originally from Asia and have thorny twigs and small, red leaves in fall. They, too, have red berries. Birds, including northern mockingbirds, American robins, starlings, cedar waxwings and other species, eat the berries of this species, and those on burning bushes, digest the pulp of those fruits, but pass many of the seeds in their droppings, often far from the parent plants. That is how these kinds of alien shrubs escape domestication and sprout in woods, hedgerows and roadsides in this country.
Japanese red maples grow to be small trees and have red leaves and paired, winged seeds in autumn. The seeds break off their twigs and helicopter on the wind across the landscape. Some of the seeds sprout and seedlings grow on lawns, woodland edges and other places with good soil. But only those baby trees that aren't mowed off will develop into trees.
Bradford pears become small trees that have red and maroon leaves in November. Unfortunately, this species has weak wood and breaks off easily. It has many, small, white flowers in April from which grow tiny, gray pears that berry-eating birds eat. Again, birds pass the seeds which sprout abundantly most anyplace that doesn't get mowed. Pure stands of this type of tree can be seen here and there locally, and are most attractive in November.
Look for the striking foliage of these kinds of woody vegetation that are abundantly planted on lawns. They help make November more attractive.
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