barren

Green Mountains almost totally barren of leaves. We came over the Green and White Mountains about a week ago, snow on the tops. Have noticed over the years that the really small trees, those around a foot or so in height keep their leaves longer than the others. Wondering if that is just due to the fact that they are so close to the ground, or if there is some other adaptive reason that they keep them so long. Maybe it is a time of the year when they can collect a little extra sunlight.