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Harvesting Those Fall Colors
Fall brings many colorful wild fruits, and among them are pokeberries. Deep violet berries cling in a cluster that’s joined by pink stems. In the sunny breeze, they sway like pendulums.
Pokeberries are a signal autumn has taken hold. Their colorful forms add to an already painted landscape. But these are not ordinary colors.
In autumn, the thick, tough stems of the pokeweed plant tower up to six feet tall. Instead of the green they wore early in the growing season, the stems now scream magenta. Elliptical leaves, once lush emerald, now hint of chartreuse.
But it’s the berries that steal the show. Children are especially attracted to their sheen and intense color, but beware trying to eat them. Pop one in your mouth and you will have a burning, bitter taste. Try several, and you risk vomiting, convulsions and blurred vision. In fact, fall is when the entire plant contains toxins, which could make you ill.
While poke’s bright colors may warn us of poison, they probably serve to entice birds to come for a treat. As with so many other berries disagreeable to humans, pokeberries pose no danger to feathered visitors. In fact, ingestion by birds helps disperse the tiny seeds within. I enjoy wild poke in my yard for its color and for the joy it brings to flocks of fall-migrating robins that are craving high-energy snacks.
There’s another old-time use of pokeberries, and it’s something early settlers and Native Americans knew about. On many fall nature hikes I have drawn appreciative “oooohs” from fellow hikers when I squish the blue-black berries and splatter hot pink juice on my hands. Eastern Woodland Indians called the plant “puccoon” meaning “plant for staining or dyeing.”
Other wild plants are also laden with nuts and berries now. Blue-black elderberries make fine pies and jam. Acorns from oaks provide food for squirrels, deer and turkeys. Roadside black walnuts stain sidewalks and make a nice addition to cookies. Native Americans and European settlers also used these fruits as dyes for porcupine quills and fabric.
Fall is a time for harvesting colors!
Natural fall tie dye
For a fun fall activity, you can dye fabric with fall colors from nature! Without adding chemicals, called mordents, your fabric won’t be colorfast when you are done, but it is a fun experiment to see what colors you can create!
You’ll need:
- Buckets and bowls
- Potato masher to squish berries
- Boiling water - You need more than enough to cover your collected plant material.
- Cheesecloth or strainer – You will strain dye liquid before dipping your fabric.
- White T-shirts, handkerchiefs or pillowcases – They’ll take the dye best if they have been washed without fabric softener.
- Rubber gloves – Use to keep the stain off your hands.
Cover your collected plant material with boiling water and let steep for an hour or so.
Scrunch up portions of your fabric and wrap it securely with rubber bands. Areas covered by the rubber bands will stay white. Some people prefer to dip their fabric after they have already dampened it in plain water. Dip or submerge your fabric in the bucket of staining plant water. The longer you leave it in, the more intense the color. Try leaving it overnight.
Hang to dry. Rinse in cold water and dry again.
Wild fall colors
Pink-purple
Gather a bucket of pokeberries and squish them into a pulpy mass with a potato masher.
Gold
Snip a bowlful of goldenrod flower heads.
Blue-gray
Harvest wild elderberries or wild grapes from roadsides.
Pale red
Collect the red bundles of fuzzy staghorn sumac berries. Contrary to common misconception, these berries are NOT poisonous to touch or eat.
Dark brown
With rubber gloves, pick up fallen walnuts. They produce a colorfast dye.
Garden harvest colors
If you don’t want to harvest wild plants, your garden or grocery produce section yields some fun colors.
Gold
Collect the dry skins from a bag of yellow onions.
Gray-purple
Chop a head of red cabbage.
Red
Sliced beets or cherry Kool-Aid both produce a happy red color.
