This fall the toothed leaves on our doublefile viburnums seem especially striking. Maybe it’s the drought. When backlit by a lowered October sun, the leaves glow like embers, as you see here. On cloudy days, they look like they’ve been dipped in a rich Burgundy wine and left to dry:
The doublefile viburnum (Viburnum plicatum) is known for its distinctive horizontal branches that are covered in lacecap-style flower clusters in the spring, full of berries loved by the birds in late summer and early autumn, and decorated with colorful hanging, ovate leaves in the fall and early winter.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 5, 2025.)