Late autumn in the biotope: trees looking different from usual, plants bearing pretty berries (December 2023)

Japanese maple

For the past several years, the maple leaves have been late in changing color.
Previously, November was the best time to see autumn leaves. However, this year, many leaves had still not yet changed color when November arrived.

Japanese Zelkova

The leaves usually turn yellow or red and then fall off.
However, in the past few years, many leaves have turned brown and fallen without turning red or yellow first.

Japanese Aucuba

These are usually evergreen trees with bright green leaves. However this year, many of these trees withered and their leaves turned black, likely due to the extreme temperatures this summer.

Plants with pretty berries

Vigna angularis var. nipponensis

These are said to be the wild ancestors of today's cultivated azuki beans.
These pods are black and the beans (seeds) of this plant are smaller than azuki beans.
The plant produced yellow flowers this summer. Later, in autumn, it produced pods full of beans, which are edible.

Pods and seeds of Vigna angularis var. nipponensis

(You can see that the seeds are very small - battery included for scale.)

Ampelopsis glandulosa var. heterophylla

These plants survived this summer's extreme heat and produced many small, light purple and blue berries. Although they belong to the grape family, they are inedible.

Big blue lilyturf

After the blooming of purple flowers in summer, the lilyturf plants produced green berries, and gradually the color of the berries turned indigo. These plants tolerate summer heat well.