The courtyard tree is the city is a Chinese Elm, Ulmus parvifolia, a pretty deciduous elm from China and the East. It is hardy with an upright trunk of attractive flaking reddish browny tan bark and the branches arch and spread like umbrella spokes and in summer contain the little yard in a luscious green.
Parvi-folia: little leaf, poor insignificant leaf. It is a lovely leaf I think, small and delicate, with slightly serrated margins and strong ribbing to give it strength, and character. Now, we are just one month past the midsummer solstice, and already age is wearying them though autumn seems so distant still.
Some are falling with a full compliment of chlorophyll, green, and settle and wither on the table alongside my favorite rocks.
But with each day, more and more are yellowing, their energy systems run down, and lighter drift in the air. And in the breeze and float their fall is broken by the delicate lacework of the spiders whose lacy webs stretch from most unlikely place to most unlikely place.
The spiders and their webs are welcome (if not that sticky surprise on your face) and now with markers, are so much easier to dodge and preserve.
