READING THE LANDSCAPE.

EUROPEAN BUCKTHORN, LEAVES AND FRUIT

 MULBERRY

LILACS

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  42 degrees at the ferry dock, 38 on the back porch.  Wind variable, calm with very light gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity 72%.  The barometer is steady, now standing at 30.34".  Rain is predicted again for Wednesday, but today will be truly beautiful.
   This is the time of year to separate, so-to-speak, the sheep from the goats; or at least the native from the non-native trees and shrubs in the northern landscape.   Except for conifers, most of the native woody plants should by now have lost their leaves, although some will still  be clothed in their typical fall colors.
   Look around, up and down the streets in your neighborhood, and note the trees and shrubs that still have green leaves; you will see lilacs, roses, perhaps white mulberry, and invasive plants  such as buckthorn.  These are all or mostly plants from Europe.
   Look more closely and you will find trees and shrubs native from further south in North America, such as red mulberry and black locust. These plants are hardy north but their leaves do not color and abscise in the same fashion as trees and shrubs that have evolved further north in North America.
   There are many northern Asian trees and shrubs which have evolved in the same way and have the same fall leaf color characteristics as our native plants and have been introduced here, so just because a tree or shrub has colorful fall leaves does not in itself mean that it is a native.
   These are some of the visual clues to "reading the landscape" as we walk our neighborhoods or drive our roads.