My interest in the Staghorn Sumac began as summer was slowly turning into autumn. Amid the green leaves, small touches of red began to appear, and in that quiet shift, I felt something distinctly Eastern.
Perhaps it was because it was the season of Chuseok (the Korean harvest festival). As the leaves changed color piece by piece, they reminded me of the traditional blue-red contrast often seen in Korean art and crafts.
Even though it was a tree I had never seen before, growing in a land far from home, the emotion it carried as autumn deepened felt strangely familiar and quietly warm.
