Colors of the season

The cold nights are taking their toll on the plants. Many leaves have already fallen and some of the trees are more brown or bare at this point. Here are a few photos from around the house. The first one is of a Burning Bush, of which we have several, followed by a couple of photos of a maple out front.

 
And the ground ...
 

We have lots of oaks around, but I especially like the maples because they have the best reds and orange colors to make for variety in the landscape. As he clears out old growth, Tom is marking the small maples to keep so that we will wind up with more of them in proportion to the other trees.

This next photo is of a bright red color that bodes ill, though. The snow earlier in the week motivated Tom to get the snow blower out and ready for service. It is better to do it now than when it is nine degrees outside with four inches of snow already on the ground. It is now parked in the garage next to my Equinox, where it serves as a daily reminder that winter is on its way.