Natural History Wanderings

I Fall Color Report for the Week of September 20, 2015 | Department of Biology | Appalachian State University reports

It has been delightfully cool here in the High Country for the past 10 days or so, especially in the mornings.  It has also been very sunny.  And as I’ve said for many years, if you get cool, sunny weather in September, you’re headed for good fall leaf color.  And we’re getting it!  So, if this keeps up for the next few weeks, we should be headed for a really, really, good fall leaf color season!

Color has burst out this week here (and burst is the appropriate word!).  Last Sunday, I said the word to describe the forests then was “green”.  But now, just one week later, the hillsides are showing color, some of it quite good. The best color so far is between Grandfather Mountain and Rough Ridge along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  For some reason, this area always develops the brightest colors, and does so first in the High Country.  I’m not sure why, but every year it develops before other areas.  So, right now that is the best section of the Parkway to see some good color, although I was told by one person that north of Doughton Park on the Parkway (toward Virginia), color was good along that stretch of the road.  Price Lake is starting to show color also, which is just south of Blowing Rock.

What trees are showing now?  Yellow buckeyes are losing their leaves now in droves, and they turn a mucky-yellow/brown.  Buckeyes are among the first trees to leaf out and among the first to lose their leaves in the fall.  Way back, when I had dark black curly hair, a friend and I even published a scientific paper documenting this pattern on some understory buckeyes.  The yellow buckeyes are producing their seeds now (the buckeyes) which make great souvenirs, but don’t eat them – they’re toxic.

Maples have started turning, and not just in town, but in the woods too.  Sourwoods are already mostly red, sumacs are starting to turn along the roadsides, and pin cherrys are orangy/red now.  Some of the tulip poplars are showing hints of yellow, but the Fraser magnolias are ahead of them and already turning yellow before they shift over to chocolate brown.  Witch hazels are just beginning their transition to yellow leaves, and they are also blooming now (one of the only shrubs that flowers in the fall season).  Sassafras are starting their color transition, and you can find leaves that are yellow, orange, or red, all on the same tree!  Lots of shrubs are turning now, especially the huckleberrys and blueberrys, which are a spectacular red at this time of the year.

If I were to rate the degree of color change now in the High Country, I’d say it would be a 1 on a scale of 10.  Although this week may cause some to think the colors will be early this year, I caution that a warm up in the next few weeks could delay it and put it back on schedule.  So, at this point, I’m still predicting that peak color in the Boone/Blowing Rock area will still be mid-October.