Honoring Foliage Follow-up, hosted by Pam of Digging, I’ll profile the results of drought, freeze and Fall.
Since Tuesday, all the leaves on my non-native Arizona Ash tree (Fraxinus velutina) have dropped. All of them. I don’t recall this ever happening within such a short period of time. Usually, the leaves waft down over a relatively long period of time. It’s not a tree with particularly great fall color, but the leaves are usually yellow for a few days to a week before they begin their descent to the earth.
I don’t know what the hurry was this year.
I’m guessing the culprit for the dramatic drop is related to our exceptional drought. The Arizona Ash is not a desired tree for Central Texas. We inherited this tree with the house and it’s not a tree I would plant, nor would I recommend it to others. I’ll be interested to observe how this and other Arizona Ashes fair over the next year or two.
For now though, the downed leaves are nice. Rather pretty, in fact. They remind me of the tissue collage art that my kids would make when they were very little–all charmingly glued together to give the art piece texture and color.
And like those obnoxious little pieces of paper, the leaves are everywhere.
The dog tracks leaves in. The cat tracks leaves in. I track leaves in.
When the kids were little, they helped clean up their messes after their art projects.
Do you think I’ll be able to coax the teenager to use the rake on the leaves?? Or vacuum leaves in the house??
My Gardener Says... 
How strange. That’s how the live oaks are in the spring — boom, they all come down at once. And those leaves aren’t pretty at all, unlike your yellowish AZ ash leaves. I do wonder how these fast-growing, fast-dying ashes will handle the drought. Then again, they’re from Arizona, right? Anyway, thanks for joining in for Foliage Follow-Up!
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Yeah, I think it’s odd too. Interestingly, there are two older Arizona Ashes on either side of our property (one of which is definitely in serious decline) and the leaves haven’t dropped. So, I’m not sure what’s going on. I don’t water nearly as much as either of my two neighbors though, so my tree might be significantly more stressed. Anyway, it’s pretty for now but will be annoying soon!
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Great color, love the impressionistic look of the leaves. They aren’t fun to get out of the house though.
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They get annoying in very short order!
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Love your leaves, but I think you would have better luck training your dog to use the vacuum than a teenager!
Beth
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Hah! No kidding. But I have a few tricks up my sleeve to hold over his head, so he’ll be helping me! At least, with the outdoor leaves, which continue to fall…
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