fall foliage

What a spectacular year for fall color! From red maples reminiscent of a sailor’s sunset and gingko as bright as the sun shining on them, it’s difficult not to become entranced by the majestic display tendered by changing autumn leaves. Offering an explosion for the senses, what we are really experiencing is chemistry happing right before our eyes! Let’s take a closer look at some of this year’s highlights.

This time of year can reveal some pretty striking brow patches on evergreen trees and shrubs. The question always comes up “Is the browning indicating a decline in the plant? Is the plant going to be OK?” the answer is “It depends……”

Peak Fall Color is dependent on temperature, moisture, wind, and weather. We may have passed the peak this past weekend, but if you look closely, you can still see a great show from some of the later arrivals like oaks, though maybe not a vibrant as the bright oranges and reds of the Sugar Maples, but they are still very beautiful. Keep your eyes open!!

Up here in sugar maple land, everyone wants to know when the leaf colors will change and if it will be a good year for colors.  Like always, I give them the solid scientific response to their questions of “When they are ready”… and “Yep, it could be a good year!”  So, I thought I’d review the science as to why leaves change colors and then maybe you can forecast your own “fall color spectrum” chances.

 

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  I have decided to take my cue from Joe Cochran this week and instead of a single tree (or shrub), select several that spoke to me in November. Starting with the scarlet-and-gray Japanese maple pictured above.

  Never-to-be-forgotten fall color continued this past Saturday in Wayne County in northeast Ohio – and I suspect, elsewhere. The red maple (Acer rubrum) above and the other images were all from Saturday morning, November 5, in my yard and the nearby Johnson Woods Nature Preserve near Orrville five miles away.

  Maples held sway in their many iterations, from the luminosity of sugar maples (Acer saccharum) at Johnson Woods, to the unusually foliated hornbeam maple (Acer carpinifolium) in the ChatScape.

 

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