Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: fall, 0 by Weerobin

Weerobin wrote:
I came home from vacation to find a young stewartia monodelpha lying on the ground, snapped off about a foot above ground by a buck. It was a pretty scrawny thing, about 4ft tall, but just 1/2 inch caliper trunk. I had even put sturdy deer protector on it which successfully protected the bark from being stripped, but the trunk wasn't strong enough. First two pics (pretty terrible quality by lamplight on my porch) of the snapped stewartia sapling. The 3rd one shows a glimpse of it's fall color from last year, when it was an even younger lad. Looks like he might have had some potential. Sigh ...

My other stewartias are just getting started. I have always had high hopes for their fall color, but none of mine have been super spectacular yet. S pseudocamellia has individual leaves with outstanding coloration, but the whole tree doesn't glow like I had hoped. I have a small s. sinensis which is supposed to have spectacular fall color, but mine's too young to tell.