Sugar Maples’ abundant winged seeds, called samaras, fall from the trees in autumn. Typical mature trees have trunk diameters of one to two feet at chest height, and when healthy, the Sugar Maple can live for more than 400 years. Size and AgeĮxceptional individual trees can grow to nearly 150 feet in height, but most range from 80-100 feet. The bright colors we associate with fall actually exist in the leaves for the whole summer, but their dominant green-tinted chlorophyll breaks down in cooler weather to reveal the other hues present in the leaves. Leaves and Fall FoliageĪs temperatures cool and days shorten each fall, the Sugar Maple’s leaves change in color to warm hues ranging from yellow to bright orange and deep red. It’s the perfect time of year to celebrate the glorious Sugar Maple! Known best for its ability to produce sweet sap that can be boiled down for maple syrup and other maple treats, the Sugar Maple ( Acer saccharum) is also the backbone of New England’s stunning fall foliage. Climate change is another variable and is causing the fall foliage season to be later in the season.Writing by Whit Beals, illustrations by Yellobee Studios. Heavy rains and winds during fall knock leaves off of their branches and shorten the leaf-peeping season. If temperatures get too cold, leaves may die before they change colors. Numerous cloudy days during fall may result in more golds and yellows. The entire growing season contributes to the health of trees and their colors, but bright fall sunlight produces the most brilliant colors. Perfect foliage follows the Goldilocks principle: that the weather has not been too hot, too cold, too wet, nor too dry, but just right. But environmental conditions and weather play into the timing of foliage change. Two constants are 1) day length, which is the primary factor influencing when leaves change, and 2) the tree species, which is the main factor influencing how the leaves change through a predictable color progression. Different species turn different colors, and those species turn at different times in the fall. Locally, there is white ash, American elm, basswood, and hop hornbeam.Ī common question this time of year is, "When is peak foliage going to be?"”Answering this question is tricky, because while some factors that play into the timing of foliage are constant, many change. Sugar maple and beech dominate this forest other common trees include yellow birch, red maple and black cherry. The northern hardwood forest is the predominant forest in the Catskills and includes tree species with the most dazzling colors. Oaks will be the last to change, with red oaks turning red and chestnut oak golden to bronze hues. We generally recognize “peak foliage” as the period when maples are in full color. Red maples generally will turn red, while their cousins, sugar maples will show a spectrum of yellow, orange and red. One of the earliest wide-spread colors that we see is yellow from ash, yellow birch and black birch. Carotenoids show up as yellow and anthocyanins show up as red. The reduction of green chlorophyll in the leaves allows other colored compounds to show through. As the days shorten, the trees stop producing chlorophyll and store valuable sugars and nutrients for the following year. Why do leaves change colors? Pigments are most responsible for the color changes we see in autumn: chlorophyll, carotenoids and anthocyanins.Ĭhlorophyll allows plants to produce sugars from sunlight.
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