WALNUT AND HACKBERRY FALL COLOR

GOLDEN YELLOW WALNUT LEAVES

LIME GREEN LEAVES OF HACKBERRY

Sunday,  9:20 AM.  46 degrees F, wind SW, with light gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity 75%. The barometer, now stands at 29.93" and is heading downward.  It is a nice day today, with a 50% chance of rain tomorrow.
   Black walnut, Juglans nigra, has large, pinnately compound leaves that turn a rich golden yellow in the fall.  Most have lost their leaves by now, but a few trees still retain them.  This is a beautiful,tall growing species native to rich woods of the eastern US, yielding edible nuts and famous for its high quality dark brown wood, which is so prized for furniture and gun stocks that it is often surreptitiously stolen by "rustler" loggers, a quality tree being worth many thousands of dollars.
   Hackberry, Celtis occidentalis, is in the same family as the American elm, and has been much planted as a replacement for that tree since the advent of Dutch elm disease.  Its' rather unusual fall color, corky bark and small berries make it rather easily recognizable. This is an extremely variable tree genus in North America with a number of species that interbreed, but plants obtained from reliable nursery sources can make an acceptable street tree.
.