Cercis (redbud) leaves

Almost Autumn

Posted on by Ann Mackay

NB: A note for WordPress Reader users – you need to click on the title of the post again to see the full photograph. (Otherwise you see just a tiny section!)

Summer is gradually morphing into autumn here. Despite reaching the autumn equinox, the days can be sunny and warm, making it feel as if the season hasn’t yet changed. Most of the leaves on the trees and shrubs around us are still green. The red leaves here really aren’t autumnal at all – they were photographed on a visit to a garden in early August.

North American readers may recognise these gloriously-coloured leaves as belonging to Cercis (redbud), a native of their area. I believe this is Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’, which has leaves of a deep reddish-purple. (They look much more red here, because I’ve photographed them with the light shining through them. However, the two below were just starting to become a bit more red before turning to the more orange shades of autumn.)

‘Forest Pansy’ is a cultivar that I’ve seen in some of the larger gardens that I visit, but it is not common around here. I do see it available in garden centres, so maybe there will be more of these delightful trees in our area in the future. I certainly hope so! Their heart-shaped leaves are a beautiful sight, especially when the low sunlight catches them and makes them glow.

Cercis (Redbud) leaves
Cercis (Redbud) leaves

An update: it turns out that the comment box was black because the Orvis theme (for some weird reason) now shows the text and the box as the same colour. (It only happens if you have a white background. It works OK if your background is black.) The ‘Happiness Engineers’ were quick to help, but the only solution was to pick a different theme. (This is Libre 2.) Hope this is helpful for anyone having a similar problem. 🙂

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Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

28 thoughts on “Almost Autumn”

    1. Thanks for the heads-up about the comments box, Liz. It’s black for me too, and I’ve no idea what’s going on because I haven’t changed anything! So now I’ll have to see if there’s an answer anywhere… (But at least the comments do get through.)

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    1. Do you have redbuds with green leaves in your area? I think that it’s mostly the red/purple varieties that are catching on here, although I’ve seen a couple of ‘Judas’ trees in flower that I believe would later have green leaves. (BTW did you see a black or a white comments box? Having a problem with it that could be browser-related!)

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      1. The redbud leaves I’ve seen here are green, which is why the ones in your post kept me from thinking about redbuds.

        Yes, your comment box is showing up as black in the browser I use, Chrome. I typed my comment elsewhere, copied it, and pasted it into the black box, which remained black and obscured the pasted-in comment. The Reply button worked normally and did accept the comment.

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      2. Ah, thanks Steve! I use Chrome too but I tried it on my Kindle’s Silk browser and hubby tried it on Opera and they were all black. This must be a WP glitch, because I haven’t changed anything on my blog’s appearance and don’t have access to CSS. 😦

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  6. I never would have recognized this as a redbud. Ours have small pink flowers, and green leaves. I suspect these cultivars have been bred for more dramatic leaves. They certainly are pretty — and autumnal — but I think I still prefer our natives, which are such a familiar and beloved sign of spring.

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  7. By the way — the comment box is black for me, too, but the text is just enough darker than I can at least see what I’m typing. I’m sure the issue is related to site-wide changes to the commenting system. Your comment box has changed in other ways, too. I’d let the WP gurus know about it. They seem to be ironing out issues, but it might speed them up a bit. It could be theme related.

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      1. Steve Gingold couldn’t comment at all on my blog for a while, but eventually it got fixed up. Another blogger suddenly had no comment box at all, but it finally reappeared. I’d meant to let you know that I use Firefox: another bit of evidence that it’s not you, it’s them!

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  8. Think it is forest pansy too. It is so weird to see all the different WordPress bugs at the moment. Perhaps you should let them know about the black comments box. People who type as imperfectly me will have to rely on their skills rather than their corrections!

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    1. I’m in the process of sorting the box out – by changing the theme I use. Hope everything goes OK with it. (Can you guess that I’m just slightly nervous, hehe!) I contacted the ‘Happiness Engineers’ who were good and even made me a couple of little videos to show what was going on – for some reason the theme has changed the way it shows the box.) Here goes…eek! 🙂

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    1. Hi Syd! (I’m sure it must be you because I can see you in the likes, even if your comment is anonymous.) It’s not really a proper macro – taken with the ‘macro’ setting on a short zoom. (Canon EF 24-70, if I remember right – but that’s not guaranteed at this time of night, LOL!)

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