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Trees can be beautiful any season of the year.  While you might think of late fall as a time when trees have given up all their splendor for the year, I hope I can change your mind with a few images of late fall in Cantabria.  Late fall means different things for different trees.

For the holly trees who never seem to lose their leaves (they do, just not all at once like deciduous trees), December is show time.  The holly trees in Cantabria fill with berries in preparation for Christmas.  Nothing more beautiful than the walking in the hills to see the holly trees with their shiny, waxy dark green leaves full of bright red berries.  They are a special scene this time of year when everything else can seem colorless.

Cantabria Christmas Tree

While holly trees add their bright red ornaments, other trees barely holding on to their last leaves can make for dramatic plays of light in the forest.  In the Saja National Forest Reserve of Cantabria, Northern Spain the oaks nearly barren and a few beach trees barely hang on to the last of their leaves.  The leaves and the bark of the trees shimmer in the penetrating light that can´t make it in to the forest until this time of year.

Let there be light

Even trees that have given up all they had to give can treat you to a beautiful scene.  Seemingly lifeless poplars can provide stunning beauty with the help of some lichen and the right fore/mid/back ground to help you take notice. I´ll offer up this planted grove that caught our eyes in the Valderredible area of Cantabria.

Poplars at attention

Every season has its appeal for me.  I will never get bored with the variety of natural environments in Cantabria, so varied and each one beautiful in its own right during each season of the year.  December trees are just fine with me.