All About Fall Foliage Color: Where to Find It, How to Grow It.
Dramatic fall color is rooted in the decidedly unsexy sounding properties of the carotene and xanthophyll (yellows) plus anthocyanins (red and purple pigments) found in the trees' leaves.
Admittedly, the chemistry makes my eyes glaze over so I was glad to find this zippy explanation: Why Leaves Color. It was done with kids in mind but, hey, it works for me.
For another take on the subject, here is a more succinct but equally informative grown up version.
So what's the magic? See for yourself! You can enjoy the unfolding of the display all season long by checking in with various web cams. For example, here is a series of cams located in Pennsylvania: Fall in PA includes Snowy Mountain in the Micheaux which is not too far from my house. The site also suggests driving tour routes for optimum foliage viewing at various locations.
Heading a bit further north in New England where the fall foliage display is legendary, Foliage in Vermont includes regularly updated "Today's Photo" and "Peak" shots.
If you'd like to bring some of that foliage home with you, give a little thought to Planning the Landscape for Fall Color. This will help you with what to plant to add that fabulous red or yellow or gold to your own landscape.
If your plans call for some of our native treees, you may need to look into bringing them home from the wild rather than from the nursery. Native Trees for Landscape Use will help you decide if, how and when to try this. You may need to mark the target trees now so you can move them very early next spring. This is especially important if you are hoping to select a particular specimen with excellent coloration.
Well, if you've planted the right trees but aren't getting the color you were hoping for, it might be your fault. Then and again, it might not be any thing you did or didn't do. Find out why in
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