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Chattanooga: Trees starting to lose leaves

By: Andy Johns
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Richard Evans

Staff photo by Gillian Bolsover--Tom Stebbins walks beneath the Tulip Poplar in the Bonny Oaks Arboretum.

Some of Tom Stebbins’ footsteps don’t sound like September.

Whenever Mr. Stebbins walks near the yellow poplar tree outside the Hamilton County Extension Service office off Bonny Oaks Drive, the crunching of leaves sounds more like an accompaniment for chilly November winds or an October Hunter’s Moon.

The poplar typically is one of the earliest species to shed its leaves each year, but the leaves are falling a little early this year, according to Mr. Stebbins, the county’s horticulturist.

“I don’t know that there’s any rhyme or reason to it,” he said.

Dogwoods, chestnuts and oaks around his office all are hanging on to their leaves, but Mr. Stebbins said their time to shed will come. He’s concerned that the region’s prolonged drought may push that time up on the calendar this season, despite recent rains from the remnants of Hurricane Gustav.

“Sometimes you can’t erase the effects of a drought,” he said. “You can’t put the leaves back on.”

So far this year, Chattanooga is about 6 1/2 inches behind its average rainfall totals after finishing almost 16 inches below the norm last year, according to the National Weather Service.

Richard Evans, director of the University of Tennessee’s Forest Research Center, said he also noticed poplars shedding leaves when the center’s staff cleaned up their arboretum for a recent event in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

“I guess that’s a pretty good indication if we’re out there raking leaves to make the site look good,” he said.

Mr. Evans said the trees drop their leaves when they are thirsty. In prolonged drought, trees try to keep water in their roots in order to survive, he said.

“The best way to do that is to drop a few leaves,” Mr. Evans said.

Most of the trees should pop back to good health in the spring, as long as they get an average amount of rain this fall and winter, he said.

“Unless we get really dry, we’re probably going to have a pretty decent fall,” he said.

This could turn out to be a busy fall for landscapers, including Tom Carroll at Carroll Landscape in Chattanooga.

“I’ve noticed several lawns that are just covered in maple leaves,” Mr. Carroll said. His customers don’t usually start calling for leaf cleanup until mid-October, he said.

Gene Hyde, city forester for Chattanooga, said the leaves actually are right on schedule, and the thought that they are falling early may just be people’s perception. Trees began losing leaves about a week or two earlier last year, he pointed out.

“It’s nothing unusual,” Mr. Hyde said. “It’s just the nature of things.”

Species such as poplar, sweetgum and hackberry start dropping their less-productive leaves around this time every year, he said.

One person hoping the leaves hold on is Lynda Pack, who is helping organize this year’s Fall Color Cruise at Hales Bar Marina on Oct. 25-26 and Nov. 1-2.

“I’ve seen them already start to change,” Ms. Pack said. “I think it’s going to be pretty this year. I’ve got my fingers crossed.”

Mr. Hyde said this fall should be very colorful, depending on a delicate balance of moisture, sun and temperatures. He said clear days and cool nights bring out red and purple coloring in the leaves, while overcast days might lead to more drab leaves.

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