Witch-hazel flower

We're about halfway through foliage season, but some tree groups, the maples, birches, and hickories in particular, are pretty much bare. (The oaks and beeches are just getting going.) In the understory, it's the same mixed story, with the Witch-hazels embracing abscission, while the viburnums are holding to their leaves for dear life. Bare stems at this time of year can be a melancholy sight, but not on the Witch-hazels. Once they ditch their handsome autumn-yellow foliage, they reveal an abundance of yellow flowers, each with four, curling-ribbon-shaped petals. Late-flying bees and gnats find them irresistible during the day, and after dark, the blossoms are visited by winter moths, their main pollinator. Day or night, the Witch-hazel blooms lure me in—off any trail or road I'm walking—to enjoy the last tree flowers of the year.