It can't be, but here's the picture I took yesterday.


I noticed a few red leaves on the tree, which grows outside my office window, a few weeks ago. It was still July and it was about 100 degrees day after day, so I figured it was stress. Then, of course, we went directly into September weather. Now there are more red leaves. Darn! I'm not ready for summer to be over!

The tree is one of the few good tree choices I've made. It's known as sour gum, tupelo or pepperidge, and the Latin name is Nyssa sylvatica. The Sunset guide calls it "one of the best lawn trees for fall color," and I would agree with that although I wish it would wait a while to get started! Sunset also says it grows well in any soil, doesn't need much water and tolerates poor drainage, which makes it perfect for our area. My only criticism would be it doesn't grow very fast.