Red Autumn Collage
Okay, Last one.
Red Autumn Collage
Tag Archives: leaves
Orange Autumn Collage
Orange Autumn Collage
Another autumn collage this time in orange.
Golden Autumn Collage
Golden Autumn Collage
Here is a collection of autumn photos in shades of yellow and gold.
Deep Autumn is Settling In and Brilliant Color is Everywhere
Red Maple leaves
Deep autumn is settling in. The last days of late afternoon sun lights the still hanging leaves like bits of stained glass.
The shades of red, yellow, oranges and golds shift and intensify in the coolness of the season.
Sugar Maple
The rains of late, late autumn will bring the leaves down off the trees. One windy storm can beat the trees bare.
The fall color seems later than in years past. This second week of November has seen the most brilliant autumn colors. Usually, the spectacular color is in the last week of October. It is now the second week of November.
Climate change? Warm weather? Too much rain? I don’t know why the color is so late.
Overall, I think there is less fall color along city and suburban streets. And there seems one main reason for this, humans in these areas are planting fewer native trees.
It is mostly native trees which provide the fall color. Fewer than two dozen common and widespread native species are responsible for the fall extravaganza.
Across the North American continent perhaps 100 native woody species provide the colorful leaf changes that so delights the eye.
Red Maple leaves
Oaks, maples, birches, hickories, ashes, gums, Sycamore, Tulip poplar and dogwoods provide most of the fall color in the North American forests and woodlands.
There are local indigenous species of each of these trees in most temperate areas of North America. There is are color changing species for nearly everyone.
Here in Philadelphia, Oaks (White, Scarlet, Red and Black) provide reds and browns. Sugar Maples, Tulip poplars and Redbuds give luscious yellows. Dogwoods display deep maroons.
Red Maple
In gardens and along streets humans often chose plants because they stay green in the winter. This also means they stay green in the fall, too.
The vine English Ivy stays green all year-long. The native vine Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) has shades of red and maroon leaves.
The native woody species of trees, shrubs and vines are adapted to the onset of winter dormancy signaled by drier weather, less daylight and cooler temperatures. This is why leaves change colors in the fall.
Are we destroying the brilliant autumn leaf-changing event of the Eastern part of North America by planting non-native trees, shrubs and vines?
Sugar Maple
My Flickr Autumn in Philadelphia photostream.
Leaf Colors of Common Trees Here in the Oak-Hickory Forest
various autumn leaves
The Philadelphia area is graced with a show of spectacular fall tree color. We are just far enough north for the tree leaves to change and just far enough south to miss frigid winter temperatures. Perfect.
The tree leaves change colors according to their species DNA. Here is a list of the colors of common tree species here in the Oak-Hickory region of the Eastern Deciduous Forest.
Oaks
bear oak – yellowish brown
black oak – dull brown
blackjack oak, pin oak, turkey oak – reddish with orange tinge
post oak – brown-red oak – dull brown
scarlet oak – bright scarlet to deep red
Virginia live oak – green this is an evergreen oak)
Hickories
all hickories have yellow leaves in fall.
Maples
box-elder – yellow, sometimes reddish
red maple – red
silver maple – pale yellow
striped male – yellow
sugar maple – bright orange, turning to yellow
Birches
birches – all turn shades of yellow
Other species
American beech – light yellow and turning brownish tan
American chestnut – brownish-yellow
Black tupelo – deep dark red
Bigtooth aspen – orange-yellow, turning pale yellow
Eastern cottonwood – yellow
Eastern sycamore – brown
Flowering Dogwood – deep red
Pin and wild cherries – reddish, turning yellow
Quaking Aspen – yellow varies from pale to deep
Sassafras – reddish becoming yellowish
Sumacs – orange, turning bright red
Sweetgum – orange-red, turning yellow
Tamarack (American Larch) – bright yellow needles
Tuliptree – bright yellow
White ash – maroon, dark reddish green
