LOOK FOR: Witch Hazel, the Last Flowers of the Year

As one of the last things in the DC area to flower in the fall, witch hazel has a special place in my heart. It's not that the flowers are particularly showy -- the petals are just small yellow wisps, really. But the flowers of Hamamelis virginiana start blooming in October, and can keep going until Thanksgiving or even later.

Witch hazel (or witchhazel) is an understory shrub that grows up to 20 feet tall. Its flowers are about a half-inch to an inch wide, and they come in clusters of 3-5, on a little stalk coming off the twigs of the shrub. They'll form clusters of seedpods which explode when they're ripe, shooting their seeds up to 30 feet away. You may see some seedpods on the tree at the same time as the flowers are blooming.

There's another native species of witch hazel that, rather being the last to bloom this year, will be one of the first blooms of next year. Hamemelis vernalis often has redder flowers, and they're slightly smaller. We've never seen it in the wild, so let us know if you see some this winter! There are also Asian species of Hamemelis that are often planted ornamentally that flower in the winter.

Many people have heard of witch hazel because the bark and leaves have a long history of medicinal use as an astringent. But the "witch hazel" you can now buy in a store actually has very little witch hazel in it. It's made by soaking the leaves or bark in water, distilling it, then adding alcohol. People disagree on whether witch hazel actually has any effectiveness after the distillation process -- it may be the alcohol that's doing most of the good when you use this product. We've never tried making our own -- this tree just isn't common enough to justify it.

In the wild: Witch hazel likes moist soil, though we've also seen it on dry mountainsides. They're scattered along the Valley Trail in Rock Creek Park -- on our last hike we noticed several directly across Rock Creek from Picnic Area 8 that were in bloom. There used to be a nice stand of small witch hazels on the Rachel Carson trail north of Colesville Road, but a couple of years ago they were taken out by beavers. We'll have to check on whether they've managed to come back.

In your yard: Garden books recommend them, but the witch hazel we planted a few years ago still seems to struggle in the summer. All trees want a lot of water in their first year after planting, but this one perhaps more so.

Where have you seen witch hazel in the DC area? Leave us a comment below.

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LOOK FOR: Wild Grapes

I had a book of Aesop's Fables as a child, and the story I remember best is the story of the Fox and the Grapes. There's a big, juicy bunch of grapes hanging from a vine, and a fox is trying as hard as he can to get to them, but just can't quite reach. When he gives up, the fox says, "I don't want those grapes anyway -- they're probably sour!"

Sounds like the wild grapes of ancient Greece weren't too different from our own -- very tempting but very sour. Our native grapes are also very small. But we like them anyway...and like the fox in Aesop's fable, we'll go to some lengths to get some every fall.

Before you try to eat wild grapes, be confident in your identification. The leaves can be quite varied in size and shape, but generally have roughly toothed edges. The leaves may have three distinct lobes, or they may just hint at them. The vines climb with distinctive, curly tendrils that wrap around whatever they can for support. As they get older, the vines shed their bark, giving them a shredded texture. It's not uncommon to see thick, peeling grapevines reaching far up into the canopy -- they've kept pace with the tree they're hanging from, making sure they can get sun for their leaves even as the tree puts on new growth.

But you're looking for fruit that's within reach, which will likely be on younger vines. Clusters of wild grapes look something like miniature clusters of cultivated grapes. When ripe, they are dark purple, but (like cultivated grapes) they may have a blush of yeast on them that makes them look a little lighter. They have multiple crunchy seeds which take up a lot of the fruit. But the fruit that is there has an intense flavor.

There are several other small, purple fruits in the fall. Make sure you rule these out -- none of them are edible, and some are quite poisonous: virginia creeper (which has leaves made of five leaflets, and red stems on the fruit), Canada moonseed (whose leaves are a similar shape to grapes, but smooth, not toothed; each fruit has a single, moon-shaped seed), porcelain berry (also has grape-like leaves, but the berries are blue and white before ripening, not green like unripe grapes), and pokeweed (not a vine, but it can be mixed into thickets that also include grapes; fruits branch off a very straight stalk that's often reddish).

Enough warnings. We've taught 3-year-olds to reliably recognize wild grapes...you can do it too.

In the wild: Wild grapes need some sunlight to fruit well but they also like the support of trees. They generally thrive where there has been a disturbance in the forest canopy, or on the trees on the edge of a forest. There are tons of grapes out there that you have no hope of reaching, but every once in a while, a younger vine will have some fruit low enough for you to get a taste.

In your yard: Wild grapes are a lot easier to grow than cultivated grapes, in the sense that they don't get as many pests and diseases. But the vines can grow up to 75 feet long. They'll do best in full sun, on a trellis. You can also try a more naturalistic planting, as long as there's something for the tendrils to wrap around for support.

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LOOK FOR: Acorns of many shapes and sizes - an identification guide for 12 common oak species

There are 90 species of oak in North America. Their acorns are an important food for a broad diversity of wildlife, from insects to deer. And historically, they were a staple food for Native Americans in this area.

Oaks are generally split into two groups: "red" and "white." Red oaks have leaves whose lobes come to a point, with a little bristle on each point. Their acorns take two years to mature, so even as they're dropping this year's crop, they've already got half-grown acorns for next year. White oaks have leaves with more rounded lobes, typically lighter-colored bark, and their acorns take only one year to mature. But even within those two groups, there's a wonderful diversity of acorn shapes and sizes. Below are a selection of some of the acorns you might see in the greater DC area. (We've tried to line them up so they're to scale.) How many can you find in the wild?

Red Oaks

Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra	Southern red oak Quercus falcata	Black oak Quercus velutina
Willow Oak Quercus phellos	Pin oak Quercus palustris	Blackjack oak Quercus marilandica

White Oaks

White oak Quercus alba	Overcup oak Quercus lyrata	Swamp white oak Quercus bicolor

Chestnut oak Quercus prinus	Post oak Quercus stellata	Bur oak Quercus macrocarpa

One way to really get familiar with acorns is to collect them for Growing Native. The Potomac Conservancy will use them to replant buffer zones along the Potomac and its tributaries. This improves water quality and provides important wildlife habitat. You can donate collected acorns until October 26 in Virginia and October 31 in  Maryland and DC.

All photos by Steve Hurst at the amazing USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database, except the post oak acorns, which are from the magnificent old tree here at The Natural Capital headquarters.

LOOK FOR: Bright Red Virginia Creeper

Virginia Creeper is one of the first signs of fall in the DC area. You should notice its leaves (each made of five leaflets, in a palmate form, alternating up the vine) turning red soon.

The scientific name for Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, literally means "five-leaved virgin-ivy." (Perhaps starting the name with partheno, or virgin, was an old-school pun on the plant's common name.) Some people call it five-leaved ivy, though it's in a different family from the other "ivies" we know, and certainly won't make you itch like poison ivy (which, you'll remember, has three leaves).

But Virginia creeper and poison ivy do share the characteristic of turning red early in the fall. Most plants turn color simply because they're giving up on photosynthesis for the year, and they're losing the chlorophyll that turns their leaves green. But these vines have evolved to turn red a little earlier than they really need to. It turns out that they're colorful around the time that their berries are ripe, which serves as a loud announcement to birds to come and check them out. The extra advantage in seed spreading must be worth trading off for the extra bit of energy the plants might gain by photosynthesizing for a little longer.

In the wild: Virginia creeper grows throughout the DC metro area, and can live in many different environments -- sunny and shady, wet and dry. If you learn to spot it this fall while it's red, perhaps you'll it notice next year while it's green.

In your yard: Virginia creeper is considered fairly aggressive -- it can take over an area if you don't stay on top of it. But this characteristic can make it a good solution for an area that needs covering -- an ugly fence, a wall, or as William Cullina suggests, "an old rusty Chevy out in the yard that is becoming an eyesore."

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