Fall Color Report 2011

The very mild weather this week has made a significant progress in our fall color season, a significant jump can be seen in our map compared to last week. All areas are reporting High color, with places like Austin and Fontenac reporting peak color, meaning all areas have at least 75% color or higher. Early changing trees are peaking right now and are quickly loosing leaves, Mid turning trees are turning as well and are colorful, late turning trees like Oak and Poplar are still green, but should be turning in the next couple of weeks. People

with fall color interests will want to view fall color quickly becuase with the warm dry and weather are causing tree leaves to dropping at a fast rate.

Beautiful street sence of yellow Honey Locus trees from my neighborhood October 5th 2011

For fall color this week I give Rochester a High Color 75% rating which is a significant raise from last weekends 40% color. Warm days and sunshine have lead to a significant increase in color over the past few days. Rochester is currently beautiful for fall color! in residential neighborhoods with mid to early changing trees, views are be beat-taking. A view looking towards Downtown from Quarry Hill should not disappoint, although some of the best views I have seen were from Silver Lake Park. Sugar Maples are beautiful red to orange, Ash and Honey Locus are peaking at are yellow to gold, Red Maples have been seen turning stunningly red, and Burning Bushes are fiery pink. Oaks, Birches and Poplars are showing signs of turning but remain primarily green. Many have asked me why the leaves are falling so quickly from the trees and the answer is very warm days like we have had actually cause tree leaves to “ripen” faster, just like a piece of fruit left outside of the fridge compared to being left in the fridge, cooler days would help to “preserve” the color for longer periods of time.

Front yard color October 4th 2011

Our yard has spiked in color significantly since my last photo was shown on the 24th of September, Our front yard ash peaked a day ago and is a beautiful yellow-gold color. It is already shedding leaves very quickly and leaves now cover the yard and driveway. Our burning bush is starting to turn pink, and for our backyard, the Red Maple I planted last August and Redbud tree are starting to turn Yellow and Yellow-orange.

Sugar Maple near Downtown October 4th

Here is a very pretty view of another sugar maple which has turned an almost ember orange color, I have not seen such intense orange in a Sugar Maple before!