This linden allee runs from the old corn crib to my allée of boxwood. These sugar maples above my tree peony garden bed also display gorgeous color in fall – the leaves turn vibrant shades of yellow, burnt orange, and red. Many of these trees are deciduous, meaning they tend to seasonally shed their leaves after showing off their brilliant fall colors. Its glossy green, star-shaped leaves turn fiery shades of red, orange, yellow and purple in the fall. These leaves are turning scarlet red.įor fall color, the sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua, is hard to beat. Up close, one can see the seed catkins hanging from the branches, holding about 10 to 30 seeds each.Ĭotinus, the smoke bush, has large round leaves and spectacular autumn color. Look closely, the leaves are changing – the foliage turns a bright yellow color in fall. I love these weeping hornbeams – the branches of these trees gracefully weep creating an umbrella of foliage that reaches the ground. Here are the weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus Pendula, on one side of my “soccer field” where my grandson plays whenever he visits. The oblong green leaves turn various shades of red, orange and yellow in the fall, often persisting into the winter months. Persian parrotia or Persian ironwood is a small upright tree or large, rounded, multi-stemmed shrub. The American beech, Fagus grandifolia, is native to eastern North America and turns a pretty golden-bronze in fall. Here is my grove of American beech trees. Although some autumn coloration occurs wherever deciduous trees are found, the most brightly colored foliage is seen in Canada, the northern United States, Scandinavia, northern and western Europe, the Caucasus region near the Black Sea, Russia, eastern Asia, Argentina, Chile, southern Brazil, Korea, Japan, and New Zealand’s South Island. I love the layers of color created by the changing leaves. The perimeter around my paddocks displays such wonderful shades of orange, yellow, amber, brown, and green. London plane trees are among the first to change color in fall from a deep green to yellow brown. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to gold and orange colors come out and give the leaves part of their fall splendor. Some trees change early, others late – usually from October to November in the Northeast.īecause of changes in the length of daylight and changes in temperature, leaves stop their food-making process. In addition to on-the-ground measurements of tree phenology, we also measure seasonal changes at the Harvard Forest using webcams perched atop our research towers.Here, the changing leaves haven’t quite peaked yet, but the fall foliage is already looking so pretty around the farm. These changes along with the timing of a plant's flowering and leaf development in the spring are part of what is called its phenology, a term that includes all relationships between periodic biological activity and climate, including migrations, dormancy, etc. The timing of many individual species' autumn coloration and leaf drop is being documented at the Harvard Forest. Rainy and windy weather during the autumn can knock leaves down prematurely thereby shortening the color display at its peak. The reds (anthocyanins), which require sunlight for production, are enhanced by cold and sunny days. The right weather during the autumn can promote more intense color production. Adequate summer rains promote good tree health, leaf retention and, therefore, color production during the autumn.
The result is a reduction of color during the peak of the season. They may thus lose their leaves prematurely or start color production prematurely. Some trees produce their colors earlier than others, and the mix of species may affect the peak color production. European forests seem to lack many species that produce good color, especially the reds. In the northeast more pines and hemlocks reduce the color intensity, although the presence of some conifers provides a nice contrast to the bright colors. What Trees are Presentįew broadleaf trees, and lots of conifers, mean a primarily green display in autumn. The following factors appear to be important in the color displays. Predicting color intensity and timing may be economically interesting because the colors are a huge tourist draw, worth hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues every year.
People in New England would argue that the autumn colors in their forests are the most colorful, although people in the southern Appalachians would argue otherwise. For instance, aging leaves in tropical forests generally do not change color. Although always impressive, autumn leaf colors vary from year to year, and seem to be more intense in some regions.
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