Bradford Pear in the Fall

We don't have Aspen trees in South Louisiana that turn glorious colors like States such as Colorado do. We have lots of live oak trees (which are evergreen) around our house which are gorgeous, but not in terms of colors changing.  We do see a little yellow in the foliage of our pecan trees.  Perhaps the prettiest coloring change in leaves of trees in our area is in the Chinese tallow tree, or chicken tree as many call it. That is an invasive species, so we don't let them grow along the fence rows at our house.

I do have a Bradford Pear tree planted in the backyard.  It was sent to me by the Arbor Day Foundation several years ago.  It was just a little tiny stick at the time, and I planted it intending on digging it up and replanting it later.  However, the next year when I tried to replant it, its root system was so extensive that I couldn't dig it up.  So there our Bradford Pear sits, close to the picket fence in front of the garden.  I haven't seen any partridges in it.

The Bradford Pear Tree by the Garden

The Bradford Pear is a pretty useless tree if you're depending on it for food because it doesn't produce edible fruit.  In fact I've never seen ours produce fruit at all.  In reading I learned that when, or if, it does, the fruit is small, hard, brown and bitter. The tree does have a very redeeming quality in that it has beautifully colored leaves in the Fall.  The picture below just doesn't do it justice though.

Yellow, Red, & Gold Leaves

Fall really marks a turning point.  Leaves that grew in the Spring and throughout the Summer provided food for the tree in converting sunlight into energy that the tree can use to grow.  These leaves have done their job and will now fall off as the tree goes dormant.  They'll be replaced by new leaves in the Spring and the process of fresh, new growth starts all over again.

Seasons come and seasons go

Speaking of new growth and shedding the old, while looking at the leaves on the pear tree, I captured a picture of a cicada (locust) coming out of his shell.

Shedding his skin

Just another example of the cycle of life that the Creator fashioned into the lives of plants, animals, and humans.