Splashes of brilliance

Looking for fall color along Thornton Creek's North Fork? (See Oct 20 post for fall color further south.) If you're content with splashes of brilliance instead of great swaths of color, saunter around Shoreline's Twin Ponds at 155th just west of I-5 -- and don't miss a few hidden bits of brilliance behind the tennis courts. Or check out Park #1 south of Jackson Park Golf Course, where the best color comes from maples west of 10th Ave before you drop down into the creekbed and east of 10th Ave where the creek crosses beneath the road. Enjoy the yellows and magentas of late-blooming flowers in the P-Patch while you're at it!

Where are your favorite spots for fall color? Click on "Post a Comment" or "(#) Comments" below, type a quick message, enter your name or be anonymous, and click "Publish your comment." Looking forward to checking out your special finds!

Your carotenoids are showing

Now that chlorophyll production is winding down for the year, all those patient little carotenoids and tannins are getting their share of the limelight. Yellow and orange carotenoids and brown and russet tannins appear when green chlorophyll fades away. A few clear warm days and cool nights have triggered anthocyanin production, too, resulting in red leaves.

Two Pacific Northwest native plants, bigleaf maple and red osier dogwood, are especially pretty right now. How do you know a maple or a dogwood when you see it?

When I was growing up in Indiana, MADCAP HORSE helped me know when I was looking at a maple or dogwood. The phrase stands for Maple-Ash-Dogwood-CAPrifoliaceae-HORSEchestnut. (Caprifoliaceae is a plant family that includes elderberries, among others.) MADCAP HORSE trees and shrubs have opposite branching. Two leaves grow across from each other out of the same point on a stem. You can see the pattern in a tree's branches, too. Two smaller branches grow away from each other at the same point on a larger branch. Other trees have alternate branching. Only one leaf grows out of a point along the stem.

Creek Peek for Families

Right now, the hot spot for fall color along Thornton Creek is Meadowbrook Pond. Walk across the pond's long walkway to find the glowing red leaves, white berries and opposite branching of red osier dogwood. Walk around the pond to find yellow bigleaf maple. Bigleaf maple leaves can grow up to a foot across! Their leaf stalks can grow up to a foot long, too! Bring a tape measure with you. What's the biggest maple leaf you can find?

Can you find chlorophyll (green), carotenoids (yellow, orange), tannins (brown, russet) and anthocyanin (red) in your own neighborhood? Whenever you spot a colorful autumn tree, see who can shout out the name of the correct autumn pigment first.

A barrel of fun for your watershed

Here's another watershed-friendly option besides aiming your downspouts onto the ground (see Oct. 13)... Collect rain in a rain barrel for later use in your own yard. This practice not only conserves water. It helps recharge your watershed's groundwater, too.

Creek Peek for Kids

Hey Kids, think about this. Why do you think the outflow hose is fastened near the top of the rain barrel instead of at the bottom?

Do you know where your downspouts aim?

Groundwater provides a source of streamflow even during drier months . . . that is, if there is groundwater. Replenishing the groundwater can be a challenge in watersheds like Thornton Creek, where nearly 2/3 of the landscape is covered by impervious surfaces -- roads, parking lots, rooftops. Instead of soaking into soil and recharging the groundwater, rain rushes into storm drains and flows away through pipes. And that can present a problem for living things that depend on streams year-round for their survival.

Creek Peek for Families

Close your eyes and see if you can remember where the downspouts on your house or apartment building are. Do your downspouts direct rainwater onto pavement or onto ground? This fall, see if you can aim them so that rain has a chance to soak into soil and recharge your watershed's groundwater.