……..and this year September is arriving a bit early for my Swiss Stone Pines……the interior needles are beginning to turn yellowish.
Autumn begins June 21st or is it the 22nd now with the beginning of the shortenning of the day. Our Northland’s deciduous trees are already working on cutting off their today’s leaves. Nearly all will be dropped by November 1st, year in and year out.
Some of us are lucky enough to grow white oaks on our property. Many of these beauties maintain their tanned leaves all winter long. Some Ironwoods do as well.
All of our northern conifers lose at least their oldest brand of foliage, that which is most interior to the trunk. This is a September affair in the Twin Cities and surroundings.
Tamaracks, also know as Larch, are evergreens which are not really evergreens. Their ‘needles’ turn a bright yellow in September and all are discarded in a matter of a week or two.
By the way, it is almost a crime to call Tamarack foliage ‘needles’. The species has among the most gentle foliage to the human touch know in Nature. The tree is much neglected in the northern landscape garden.
This year my Swiss Stone Pines seem to be yellowing in their interiors already. It is normally early.
If any of your conifer trees display yellowing foliage in June or July, you most likely have a problem with a fungal leaf blight. Many spruce and yews are especially susceptible to such blights which attack the older needles, but permit the young to flourish for a year before they are killed as well. Countless sickly Colorado Spruce, once proud and beautiful in its ‘blue’, stand ‘ugly as sin’ plagued by fungal disorders. Most are treatable, but treatment tends to be long term…..especially if the spruce are located in shade.