MC foliage fine this fall

By Jane DeGeorge
Eagle Reporter
Published: October 16, 2008

The blanket of bright green that has covered Madison County throughout the summer is giving way to shades of red, orange and yellow.

“What I’m hearing and seeing is that fall color will be good this year,” said Madison County Extension Agent Adam Downing.

The county’s late summer rains provided trees with extra moisture that will “secure the sugar content in the leaves, which provides the red color,” Downing explained.

While the county’s peak fall color period is set for Oct. 27-Nov. 10, the leaves on trees in the area’s higher elevations started to change weeks ago.
“The black gum and the walnuts have already lost their leaves,” he said. The primary factor triggering leaf color change is the length of daylight, in
addition to cooler temperatures, according to the extension agent.

Chlorophyll, the green pigment seen in leaves through the growing season in spring and summer, is responsible for photosynthesis – the process by which daylight is converted into food for plants.

“The leaves become a liability for the tree. When there’s not enough sunlight to make food, there’s no reason to have the leaves,” Downing said.

Typically, the varying display of colors lasts about two-three weeks although warmer weather can sometimes prolong the length and severe weather events – such as drought or flooding – may shorten the color changing period.

Although the yellow and orange pigments are present in the leaves throughout the summer season, they are “masked” by the green chlorophyll, according to Downing. The red pigments are brought out by bright light and excess plant sugars, according to the Virginia Department of Forestry’s Web site.

Which colors become most visible in the fall depends on the tree species, Downing said. While the fall leaves on maples, sumacs and dogwoods are often predominantly red, the leaves on hickory trees and poplars are often yellow and orange, he said.

In Shenandoah National Park, more than 60 percent of the trees along Skyline Drive were already showing bright fall colors at the end of last week, according to the park’s Web site.

“Big Meadows is absolutely breathtaking right now, with most of the 130-acre meadow being bright red from the many blueberry and huckleberry bushes that thrive there,” according to an Oct. 11 Web site post. A Web cam tracking the fall color changing season in the park can be accessed on-line at http://www.nps.gov/shen/photosmultimedia/leaf-color-webcam.htm.

The bright colors and cooler temperatures blow many by Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, according to lodge manager Tricia Graves.

“This is definitely the busiest time of the year for us,” she told The Eagle.

Throughout the fall season, the Syria resort’s phones ring off the hook with people asking what color the leaves are up on the mountains, she said. In addition to the vibrant fall colors, visitors are attracted to Graves’ apple and pumpkin picking offerings.

Every fall, the resort also hosts its annual Apple Harvest Festival – which is set to continue 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 18 and 19 at Graves Mountain Lodge on North Old Blue Ridge Turnpike (Route 670) in Syria.

The festival also features special home-cooked meals, arts and crafts booths, farm animal displays, apple butter cooking demonstrations, hayrides, cloggers and live music by Flatland Bluegrass (Oct. 18) and Millford Station (Oct. 19). For information about the festival, call (540) 923-4231.

Information about Virginia’s fall foliage and suggested fall driving tours are available on the Virginia Department of Forestry’s Web site at http://www.dof.virginia.gov/fall/index.shtml. The department has also started a new blog this year featuring weekly fall foliage reports, at fallcolorva.blogspot.com.