Fall Colors...

The time to end one more summer.Good bye to those days which posts temperature between 100-120 °F . If you are lucky, you live in one of those parts of the world where nature has one last fling before settling down into winter's sleep. In those lucky places, the green colors will transform to red, orange, gold and browns before leaf fall off the trees. This time we planned to enjoy this beautiful color dance by the mother earth. Some of our friends suggested, Flagstaff which is a nearby city to us where we can enjoy so called fall colors!

The phenomenon is commonly called fall colors and autumn colors, nothing but viewing of a tree or forest whose leaves have undergone the change. Each year in the autumn (fall) many trees shed their leaves in preparation for winter. This shedding often preceded by a spectacular display of color.

Did you ever wonder how and why a fall leaf changes colors?

To start with we have to go back to our school days. What is photosynthesis? To explain the fall color, I need to tell this first, nothing but, Plants take water from the ground through their roots and absorb carbon dioxide from the air. Now leaves use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose, nothing but sugar, basic building blocks for growing any kind of life. A chemical called chlorophyll (Chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color.) helps make photosynthesis happen. All these process is called photosynthesis. Pasting the formula here.

x CO2 + y H2O	light	x O2 + Cx(H2O)y
	-------->
	chlorophyll

When autumn comes and winter is on its way, you’ll notice that it doesn’t stay light outside as long as it did during the summer. That means the leaves don’t get enough sun light as they used to, for cooking food! This way the trees realize that winter is near and begins to get ready. In winter those trees have to rest, and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their kitchens (leafs). The veins that carry fluids into and out of the leaf gradually close off. So no more water is going to come into the leaf! Without the water, the green chlorophyll starts to disappear and the other colors in the leaf -- the yellow purple and the orange packages -- can finally be seen.

Why only Yellow, Red and brown why not white or black?

Well,I agree all these process but why only yellow,purple,red,gray etc why it can't be black or my favourate color: white  ?

Interesting.Lets look in to each color codes ,see how they came and what they want to express.

Yellow and Orange - These are always present in small amounts, but they become more visible when the green color starts to fade.

Red and Purple - These are formed by chemical reactions that usually take place as the weather starts to change in the fall. Leftover food (glucose) in a leaf can also make a leaf look red.

Brown: The leaf is dying or already dead.

All of these colors can combine to form even more colors. That is why you might see so many different colors on the trees in your yard, or even on a single tree. The green chlorophyll dies first, but the yellow and orange packages die too. When all of the packages are gone, the leaf is dead and brown.

The leaves don't really "turn" a certain color -- they just lose their green.

What happens to all those fallen leaves?

Needles and leaves that fall are not wasted. They decompose and restock the soil with nutrients and make up part of the nature recycle system. Fallen leaves also become food for numerous soil organisms vital to the forest ecosystem.

When is the best time to see autumn color?

Unfortunately, autumn color is not very predictable, especially in the long term. It generally starts in late September to October and last only few days. In the Coconino national forest, the visitors center directed us to the possible places where we can see the colors. They told us this colors will come and stay only for a week time So we have to keep polling them to get the idea of the current time status in each year.

Hey, why all trees not changing color?

Well, There are two types of trees it seems -- deciduous trees and evergreen trees.

Deciduous trees are the ones we've been talking about. They change their leaf colors and lose their leaves in the autumn to prepare for the winter.

Evergreen trees stay green all year long. The needles don't freeze in winter and they don't lose water as quickly as other kinds of leaves. By holding onto the water inside them, they stay alive and green -- even in the winter!

What are the trees which participate in fall?

Nature's autumn palette will expected to paint on oaks, maples, beeches, sweet gums, yellow-poplars, dogwoods, hickories, and others. Your own neighborhood may be planted with special trees that were selected for their autumn color.

Where can we see fall (autumn) colors?

Being in United States, We can find autumn color in parks and woodlands, in the cities, countryside, and mountains - anywhere you find deciduous broadleaved trees, the ones that drop their leaves in the autumn. In east coast it might be more beautiful. And In India , I believe we have very beautiful fall colors in Himalaya.

Coming back to our fall colors experience in Coconino national forest, we were not enough blessed to see the real color festival. But we really enjoyed the little color sketches that created especially for us! Thanks for the cute color gift! Thanks for reading my experience with fall colors.