I have a complicated relationship with smooth sumac.  It’s a native prairie shrub and a long-term and important member of the grassland plant community.  On the other hand, it is often more abundant than I’d like, especially in smaller prairie fragments – altering habitat structure, shading out other plants, and offering protective and nurturing conditions for encroaching trees.  I don’t want to eradicate smooth sumac, but it can spread over large areas, and seems to be getting better at doing so as the climate changes.

In the fall, however, my relationship with smooth sumac gets a lot rosier.  I can’t think of any prairie plants that have a more striking autumn plumage, especially against a backdrop of golden grasses.  Photographing sumac leaves in the fall has become an annual tradition for me – one I very much enjoy.  The only problem is that I’m constantly trying to find new ways to photograph this plant, for which I already have a big library of images.  This year, I focused on a couple plants that leaves that weren’t just uniformly red.  One of those plants had leaves that seemed to be in various stages of their green to red transformation, and the other had patterns I can’t explain, but am very much entranced by.

As soon as sumac drops its leaves our relationship will deteriorate again.  I’ll look upon the same plants I photographed this week with a sharp and wary eye, watching closely to see if they are trying to take over one of my favorite prairies.  For now, though, they sure are pretty, aren’t they?

Hi everyone.  You’ve probably noticed a little different look to the blog this week.  I’m fiddling around with the format, hoping to create a better reading experience, especially for those of you reading this on your phones.  I’m not done messing around yet, but am at the point where some feedback would be helpful.

If you have a few minutes, I’d sure appreciate it if you could look back over the last several posts and then answer some quick questions about how those look and feel to you.  I’ll do my best to create a format that works for as many people as possible.  Even if you just answer the first question (about which device you use) that would be tremendously helpful.

Please answer the questions that apply to you and the device(s) you use.  If you want to provide more specific feedback, please leave a comment on this post (if you can figure out how to do that in this new format!) If you read this via email, you might have to click the post title to open it in a browser before you can comment.

Thank you very much for the help on this.  I appreciate your feedback and your patience as I muddle through this process.

Chris