I believe we’ve just passed peak color here in NE Oak Park. It was glorious this year – check out the parkway basswood!
The leaves have come off quickly this week with all the wind and rain we’ve had. What comes after peak color? Raking and vacuuming/shredding, of course. Next up, the story of the one tree that is no longer there…
On the Shores of Lake Chicago 
Posted by Monica the Garden Faerie on October 30, 2009 at 8:29 am
Nice tree for sure! I mulch mow the first layer of leaves in my own yard right into the lawn, bag mow and second layer and place them onto my garden beds as mulch, and I also curbside shop raked-up leaves in yard waste bags to add to my mulch (I have a large number of beds in comparison to the leaves that fall in my own yard). I love fall!
Posted by lakechicagoshores on October 30, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Oak Park has a program where you can rake leaves into the street once a week and they’ll sweep them up for mulching. That’s where the first round went: depending on our work schedules and the never-ending rain, the plan is to shred the rest for mulch. If we have no time and it keeps raining, though, the village will get our mulch material.
Posted by linda on October 30, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Your basswood was so pretty! Fall color has been beautiful this year. I’ve missed having the sun shining on all the reds, yellows, and oranges, and now they’re mostly on the ground.
I think the rain’s done for a couple of days, but eesh, everything’s so wet out there. Lots of leaves to move and mulch here too, but they need to dry out some first.
Posted by Marie Mahoney on November 9, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I’ve been taking gobs and gobs of photos of trees in and around Oak Park. I know the names of many of the usual suspects (gingko, Bradford pears) but wonder if you can help identify some of the species that yield those nice red berries–seem to be a lot of different types, some with single red berries, some with yellow berries, some with clumps of red and yellow (like the one outside the Hephzibah House on North Blvd.). Not having great luck finding info online.
Any help you can offer would be much appreciated.
Posted by lakechicagoshores on November 9, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Marie, I believe what you are seeing are crabapples. We have a bumper crop this year.