I love the magic that surrounds me every autumn season. I find myself the task that I face is to understand the language of nature as I walk or run upon the carpet of the colored fallen leaves.
The science of fall colors is about as vague as our understanding of Our Own inner selves and predicting the colors is even more surreal and unscientific as a pandemic
Here is my attempt at an explanation
There are three factors that influence the Autumn Leaf colors namely Leaf pigments, the length of night and the weather.. of which one is very unpredictable
As winter approaches the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer and cooler and so the biochemical processes in the leaf begin to paint the landscape with a beautiful Autumn palate…. the temperature and the rainfall and the amount of food supply to the trees also play some degree of role in the foliage
The leaf pigments of which there are three….
carotenoids that produce the yellow orange brown colors such as those found in carrots daffodils bananas and corn
Anthocyanin these pigments are found in cranberries red apples grapes blueberries cherries strawberries and plums and are found in the leaf cells
And chlorophyll which we are well familiar with is a bright green color is a part of the natural process of photosynthesis that transforms light into sugars for food
The sugars are stored by the tree for food during the winter dormancy. The chlorophyll and the carotenoids are always present in the growing season but the anthocyanin is only produced in the Autumn time if there is bright light and excess plant sugars
By the time Autumn comes around the chlorophyll due to the reduced amount of light slows down and eventually all is destroyed and the other two remain unmasked now revealing their brilliance
The change in the amount of light begins the process of the dying of the leaves as the veins that carry the fluid in and out of the leaf start to clothes off trapping the sugar and the anthocyanin and once the separation continues and is complete the leaf is ready to fall off as the tissues of the tree are sealed protectively
The Wild Card of the weather is one of big influences namely the temperature and the moisture.
Warm sunny days with crisp and cool nights allow the spectacle of nature to reveal itself as lots of sugars are being produced in the leaf and are prevented from being released. The carotenoids allow for the yellow and gold colors and depending upon the anthocyanin pigment the Reds purples and Crimson tints are there for the artist stroke
There are infinite combinations of variables of the moisture and the temperature that’s why no two fall Time seasons are ever the same depending upon whether there was a one period during the fall which may lower the intensity of the colors or a late spring or severe summer drought that can delay the onset of the color change and if it was a warm wet spring this may provide the brilliant autumn colors
Has a Marvel at the death of the leaves it’s actually a beautiful process for the tree begins to protect itself in the winter climates by shutting off the leaves that are The Tender Leaf tissues that may freeze during the winter and may damage the overall tree so in fact this is a natural phenomenon to promote survival into the next season
Trees like evergreens are able to survive the winter due to their needle like tough foliage with a heavy wax coating that resist freezing
But nature does not waste anything at all for all those needles and leaves are decomposed and recreate the soil with their nutrients just as a supernova in the galaxy from the ones dying star releases nutrients into the rest of the planetary systems allowing them to be birthed again
A forest cannot survive without the fall time shedding as we too are invited to shed our own overstayed yes of our shadows of our mindsets criticisms judgments and doubts and fears
The language of nature invites us to explore our own mindsets and begin the cleaning process till we are reborn again in Spring
…………
I love you
