hey

down here in adrian MI .... we had 10 weeks of drought.. with ridiculous heat all thru the nights ...

what was you weather this summer .... how was it different from other years .... and are we dealing with recent transplants or fully established tree????

and what might have been different with these trees this year ??? .. like you quit watering the lawn ... etc ...

as far as i am concerned.. fall color is variable year to year .... and many in the tree forum agree ...

ken

ps: my cleveland select also has all its leaves.. whereas many other trees shed them early, prior to color change ... and it is waiting for that first hard frost.. when every leaf will fall off as the sun starts warming them after that freeze ... probably within an hour...whoomph ....

Can't really think of any differing factors off the top of my head - weather pattern had been per usual (moist spring, dry summer-late summer). C'mon now - you know I HATE watering...

The trees have been there ~9-10 years, and this is the first time I've noticed the variation in fall color.

BTW: The coloration of my new Japanese maple "Ed Wood" is fantastic! Rich, vibrant orange, and is still holding onto almost all its leaves

I just love that tree - it's my baby, I even affectionately refer to it as "Ed" :0)

From the link below...:

Anthocyanin production increases with increased sugars in the leaves. A fall season with sunny days and cool nights increases sugar content of the leaves and intensifies fall reds. This also explains the two-tone effect on green ash which exhibits yellow on leaves inside the tree and purple on the outside leaves where they are exposed to sunlight. It also explains the amelanchier which may be red on top branches and yellow on bottom branches.

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We had some nice reds here on the things that color up late. We did have some long sunny periods with frosty nights in the last 2 weeks or so. Based on the explanation above, that would have helped enhance this year's colors.

Here is a link that might be useful: fall color

Weather absolutely does affect fall colors on trees. Here in the deep south, we cannot depend on alot of color every year. I have seen trees in years with the ideal warm sunny days, cool nights, and adequate rain turn colors that we hadn't seen in years. Just as a note, Bradford pears here are more typically red. I don't ever remember seeing one turn yellow. Climate maybe.

The Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) in the front yard varies from year to year. 2008 was hot orange-red, 2009 was subdued orange-yellow. This year despite a droughty summer and rainy fall, the color was in between. In general the Sugar maples were lovely but some of them were incredible so there is a lot of variation amongst the species.

October 2010, growing at a local cemetary, these trees are approx 125 years old.
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That is spectacular!!

My theory is that the very very early arrival of spring this year effected fall color.

I noticed many different species of trees that usually turn yellow had orange and red in them this year. Never saw this happen before.

We were warned by the usual Experts that the late summer/fall drought would have a negative impact on fall color. Instead, it's been the best season I can recall in my decade living here (including maples, sweet gum, tupelo, dawn redwood, ornamental pears, serviceberry, viburnum and barberry).

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What's been remarkable is the number of cold but not frosty nights leading into prime color time, lack of severe mid-fall frosts and no heavy rains/wind to strip leaves from the trees. So I suspect that optimal temperatures and absence of stormy weather trump regular rainfall when it comes to promoting excellent fall color.

terrene, fun to see your cemetery shot. we learned years ago that old new eng. cemeteries seem to have the trees w/ best fall color- sugar maples to be specific. so every yr. here we make sure to visit the old ___(salem st) cemetery in woburn.
best,
mindy