Into the Gardens

The Japanese Garden here in Fort Worth is putting its the annual display of fall colors.  The maples there really get going after Thanksgiving and make the first weeks of December special.

As I seem to do every year, I make my first visit to check out the potential color a week or so before the holiday and then start regular visits for the next three or four weeks to see the color.

I always hope for a rainy day around the peak of the color to make the most of the photography.  Our very dry fall here has been without any rain in November so no such luck this year.  However, I did catch a cloudy day and be there as the clouds broke up so I got some great light.

The native trees seemed to turn a little slow this year so I was impressed with the color in the cottonwoods while enjoying the deep reds of the maples this year.

One thing you notice about fall color in places you visit every year is how the trees can have good or bad years.  This year we had darker reds, in some years past the maples went crimson but the last few have all been darker red.  Not that there is anything bad about that, it just adds to the variety of what you can get and why every year and trip is different.

I hope for a few more visits over the next week or so to take in the last of our major color peaks.  Then I will pursue those last few trees as the colors fade into winter.