The Glory of Autumn: What Causes the Color?

Article by: Tom Schneider

The North American Indians greatly respected the land and its fierce animal inhabitants. Deserving the greatest of respect was the bear.

According to Indian folklore, brave hunters in the skies of heaven slew the Great Bear. When it fell in battle, its' red blood rained down from heaven above, coloring the leaves. As the victorious hunters above cooked their prize, fat from the fires , Orchid Myths -The Truth dripped to the earth , Wood Sheds below, coloring the leaves different shades of yellow.

Great story, huh? Though not as poetic, the scientific reason is fascinating nonetheless.

Why Leaves Change , Garlic: The Stinking Rose Their Color

Those of us who live in USDA Zone 5 are very fortunate. Even though winter , Growing Great Asparagus is often nothing more than endless days of drab, overcast gray light , Boxelder Bugs (Maple Bugs) Invade Homes in Fall and spring , Flower Gardening bounces from summer-like heat , Keep It Tidy! Your Home Outdoors Will Look Its Very Best When You Use Good Storage Methods! one day to bone chilling cold , Organic Gardening the next and summer , How to Decorate your Outdoor Space without Breaking the Bank is a miserable battle with drought , The Zoo-Doo Man - Or How to Make the Best Compost in the World! and tropical , Choosing the Proper Pond Pump humidity, the autumn , Add Color and Fragrance to Your Garden with the Korean Spice Viburnum is always a dancing festival of stunning beauty.

That one gorgeous season , Fabric Hammocks makes the frustrating unpredictability of the other nine months minor inconveniences.

How and Why Does This All Happen?

Behind the breath-taking beauty of it all there is a scientific explanation.

Unlike the foliage on evergreen plants, , Landscape Gardening the leaves of deciduous trees , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (part 8) History and shrubs , To Make Your Own Garden in a Pot are thin and ill-suited to withstanding the rigors of winter. , The Zoo-Doo Man - Or How to Make the Best Compost in the World! So Nature , Gardeners: Contain Yourselves! devised a method for the elimination of those leaves and decided to make a party of the whole process.

All those glorious colors , Organic Gardening you see every fall , Free Landscaping Ideas - How To Correctly Plant a Tree are also there in the spring , Birdhouses and summer, , Miniature Roses but you can't see them. Chlorophyll, the green , Orchid Myths -The Truth pigment in leaves, is dominate and masks the other colors , Fountains: A Garden's Best Friend all spring , Landscaping, An American Pass Time and summer. , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (part 8) History Chlorophyll absorbs red and blue light , Flower Gardening from the sunlight that falls , Patio Table Covers on leaves so the light , Flower Gardening reflected by the leaves is diminished in red and blue , How to Decorate your Outdoor Space without Breaking the Bank and appears green. , Decorating Outdoor Decks and Patios With Themes

But chlorophyll is not a very stable compound. Bright sunlight causes it to decompose and plants , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (part 8) History are continuously synthesizing chlorophyll to maintain the proper levels. Because this process requires sunlight and warm temperatures, , Gardeners: Contain Yourselves! it occurs non-stop during the summer. , Fast, Biologically Active, Highly-Efficient, No-Turn Composting-Really! In autumn, , Solar Lights for Walkways - Cut Costs as the days become shorter and the temperatures , Palm Tree Lamps a little cooler, the synthesizing of chlorophyll gradually stops; chlorophyll begins to break down and the other colors , Miniature Roses gradually appear.

There are numerous reasons accounting for the various colors , Want a Garden, But Don't have Enough Dirt Or Space? Hydroponics Gardening Is The Answer! within the leaves of a tree , How To Design And Build A Fish Pond or shrub. , Growing an Indoor Herb Garden Year-Round When the days of fall , Everybody Feng Shui Tonight - in the Garden bring warm, cloudy and rainy days there tends to be less red in the leaves. Trees , Keep It Tidy! Your Home Outdoors Will Look Its Very Best When You Use Good Storage Methods! that are protected by shade tend to be yellow, while those exposed to sun , Landscape Lighting are more reddish in color. , Landscape Gardening

What Makes a Leaf Yellow?

Carotene is another pigment found in the leaves of many plants. , Fountains: A Garden's Best Friend This pigment absorbs blue-green and blue light , Miniature Roses to make the reflected light , 3 Easy Steps to Growing Plants from Seed appear yellow. When carotene and chlorophyll occur in the same leaf, together they remove red, blue-green, and blue light , Everybody Feng Shui Tonight - in the Garden from the sunlight falling on the leaf and the leaf appears green. , 3 Easy Steps to Growing Plants from Seed

Carotene functions as an accessory absorber. The energy , Choosing the Proper Pond Pump of the light , Fountains of Refreshment absorbed by carotene is transferred to chlorophyll, which uses the energy , Orchid Myths -The Truth in photosynthesis. Carotene is a much more stable compound than chlorophyll, persisting in leaves even when chlorophyll vanishes. When the chlorophyll is gone the carotene causes the leaf to appear yellow.

Why Are Some Leaves Red?

A third pigment, or class of pigments, that occur in leaves are the anthocyanins. Their reflected light , Boxelder Bugs (Maple Bugs) Invade Homes in Fall is red because these pigments absorb blue, , Your Step By Step Guide To Planting The Perfect Lawn blue-green, and green light. , How to Decorate your Outdoor Space without Breaking the Bank

Unlike chlorophyll and carotene, anthocyanins are not attached to cell membranes, but are dissolved in the cell sap and the color , Add and Fragrance to Your Garden with the Korean Spice Viburnum produced by them is sensitive to the pH of the cell sap. If the sap is quite acidic, the pigments impart a bright red color; if the sap is less acidic, its color , Making a Splash with Water Features in the Garden is more purple.

Anthocyanin pigments are responsible for the red skin of ripe apples and the purple of ripe grapes. Anthocyanins are formed by a reaction between sugars and certain proteins in cell sap but this reaction doesn't occur until the concentration of sugar in the sap is quite high. The reaction also requires light. , Orchid Myths -The Truth This is why apples often appear red on one side and green , Growing Clematis on the other; the red side was in the sun , 5 Tips On Caring For A Bonsai Tree and the green , How to Build a Fence side was in shade.

One More Important Influence

So now that we know all we ever wanted to know about chlorophyll, carotene and anthocyanins, there is one more variable in this fall , Growing an Indoor Herb Garden Year-Round color equation: the weather. , Fast, Biologically Active, Highly-Efficient, No-Turn Composting-Really!

The weather , Fountains: A Garden's Best Friend has a profound influence on the range and intensity of autumn , Growing and Preserving Cut Flowers colors. Low temperatures , To Make Your Own Garden in a Pot destroy chlorophyll, and, if the temperatures , How To Design And Build A Fish Pond stay above freezing, promote the formation of anthocyanins. Bright sunshine also destroys chlorophyll and enhances anthocyanin production.

Dry weather, , Planting and Propagating Bulbs by increasing sugar concentration in sap, also increases the amount of anthocyanin. So the brightest autumn , To Make Your Own Garden in a Pot colors are produced when dry, sunny days are followed by cool, dry nights.

Midwesterner Tom Schneider is a horticulturist, avid gardener and retired arborist. When not gardening , Miniature Roses he is assisting his wife, Deb, with their business, Windstar Embroidery. Visit Tom and Deb for embroidered gifts and machine embroidery designs. , Fabric Hammocks

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The Glory of Autumn: What Causes the Color?

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