The season progresses more rapidly as September passes. Many of the birches and walnuts are leafless as other species of trees begin to turn color. This is the time for the reds to make themselves obvious as red maple leaves turn color. Red maple is aptly named since the leaves turn red in the fall and the new growth from last spring, the samaras (poly-noses) bearing the seeds and the winter buds are red. Red maple grows almost everywhere in our area from the highest ridges to lowland wetlands.
Also showing its now red leaves is flowering dogwood, that small tree which is often planted as an ornamental in landscaping. Those trees usually display pink 
flowers in the spring, but the wild flowering dogwoods growing in the woodlands in the southern part of our area are almost universally white flowered, although sometimes with a pinkish tinge. At the same time the leaves change from green to red, flowering dogwood’s fruit ripens to a brilliant red. The fruits are eaten by chipmunks, gray squirrels and many species of birds.