Fall Color in Austin?
The Austin area isn't well known for a change of seasons, but this fall has been spectacular. One thing we are really not known for is fall color when the leaves turn. The dry summer and cool nights have made for some amazing leaf color for here.
This is a home in The Village of The Hills, which is west of Austin by Lakeway, with three silver maples showing some excellent color.
This is a red oak with a brilliant blue sky behind it. A cool front came in today and blessed us with very dry air.
This shot is pretty fun. It shows purplish-red leaves on a tree with a bunch of prickly pear cactus below the tree.
This is in the neighborhood of Apache Shores and shows a few oaks scattered among the cedars.
This shows a couple of cedar trees and red oaks with some live oaks in the background. The latter don't lose their leaves in the fall, but in the spring. Another clarification - the cedar trees are actually junipers, but people here call them cedars.
Did you ever wonder why tree leaves turn colors in the fall? I did some research on that today. Tree leaves have pigments of varying colors, but the chlorophyll used in photosynthesis, which is green, masks the pigments during the summer. When the days become shorter in the fall, trees use this as a signal that winter is on the way. The leaves lose the chlorophyll because there will not be enough daylight for photosynthesis in the coming months. The green goes away and the color comes out. Some trees have leaves turn red because glucose is trapped in the leaves. The color tends to be brighter when weather conditions offer cool, but not freezing, nights and clear days. That is exactly what Austin has been seeing lately.
The color in some of the trees takes me back to living in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Michigan.