Posted by Melody on Friday, Sep 15, 2017
If you are wondering why the leaves are changing colors early this year--yes, indeed: it's because of drought.* According to the U.S. drought monitor, all of Johnson County is colored "abnormally dry" on its Iowa map. This means you'll have to grab your favorite flora identification books ASAP if you want to go on some lovely, tree and shrub-identifying fall hikes.
The Bur Oak guides are my favorite. The full-page photos make for some easy matching of the leaves you see in person with the leaves you see on the page. Two I can't recommend highly enough are Forest and Shade Trees of Iowa and Shrubs and Vines of Iowa. They will teach you the difference between red and white mulberry.
Can't make it to the library? The Iowa DOT has a 54-page PDF Guide to Common Trees & Shrubs, and the Iowa State University Forestry Extension has an Interactive Tree Identification tool you can play around with.
Happy hiking!
*The Des Moines Register reported on this effect a couple of days ago.
About the Author
I've been at the library for more than 10 years now, and I still find joy when choosing the best books for our readers. My current reading journey is taking me book by book through different genres. I'm challenging myself to find books that are enough outside my wheelhouse that I'd pass them by on first glance. The genre I'm looking forward to... more
We're ready for October at our house! We would have read this monster book even if it were Valentines Day. It was fun learning about new mythical creatures for each letter of the alphabet. My favorite is H is for Hippogriff! Little kids can learn about new monsters. Older kids can dive deeper with the context next to each mini-poem. Did you know Hippogriffs are really fast and can fly around the world? I didn't! -Melody