As I read a thread on the New Hampshire reddit about some morons, it reminded me of something I’ve never been clear on because I’ve always lived in New England where the leaves change every single year: what states in the US don’t have fall foliage?
And also, what happens in the states where the trees don’t change colors, do leaves go from green to brown and that’s it? And is there a continuum, with some states having kind of dull color changes that get get prettier as you go north?
Had some friends from Australia come to see the leaves a few years ago.
In my home part of Oregon, the vast majority of the trees are evergreens, and the climate doesn’t have huge seasonal variations. Fall leaves aren’t that much of a thing there.
I live in NW Montana, and while there are many evergreens, there are also plenty of deciduous trees. The Tamaracks turn from green to a beautiful golden shade before their needles fall off. Still, unlike Vermont, I think our lead peeping season is shorter than in most states.
I know people in California, where trees change color, who will fly to Boston and drive to see REAL fall foliage, so it varies by state. The grass is always greener on the other side.
Fall foliage color depends on what sort of trees you have, of course, and not even all deciduous trees have impressive color (and not all states have the same density of appropriate trees). They also depend on the health of the tree throughout the summer so drought-stressed states won’t have as much color. And it depends on temperatures – warm sunny days and crisp fall nights promotes bright leaf color.
The Northeast is usually your best combination of factors for all of this. When you’re in an area less suitable, trees tend to go from green to yellowish-reddish to brown without any real vibrancy. I know that, in northern Illinois, if the warm weather lingers too long, trees start to lose their leaves due to decreasing sunlight but without the bright colors that come with cold nights. This year seems to be better than the last couple for fall color though.
It’s not a Boolean yes or no. When I lived in southwest Montana, we had a few poplars that turned a nice yellow color, but most of the deciduous trees were cottonwoods, which just go straight from green to brown. A few folks had planted maples here and there in town, but the leaves would last for about a day between turning red and falling off the tree.
Around here in northern Ohio, there are plenty of maples, that turn maple red and orange, but while the colors are nice, they aren’t quite as bright as they are in more mountainous regions. They’re better in southern Ohio, and better yet in Vermont.
And of course, there are plenty of people who live in places where the climate is right for bright maple colors, but who live in big cities where there just aren’t very many trees of any sort. It’s not all that long a drive from New York City to New Hampshire, and if you’re going to be hitting the road to see the colors anyway, why not go to where they’re the best?
(oh, and when I opened up this thread, I was expecting that a “leaf peeper” was some sort of frog, that presumably lays its eggs in transient puddles after rainstorms, far from permanent bodies of water)
The leaves here in New England, that is.
Over our decades in Mass, we’ve had a half dozen or so autumn visits from assorted couples/families/singletons from my Iowa/Illinois family. One big cluster that lives just a few miles from each other, but across the Mississippi.
With two stated goals: leaf peeping and seeing the Boston historical sites. Nice to see them, not so nice to have to keep playing tourist along the Freedom Trail and such.
Apparently the leaves in the Davenport IA area are mainly attached to corn stalks.
Floridian here. Our predominant deciduous tree is the Live Oak, whose waxy leaves simply drop off in late winter, turning just a bland brown. Pines also are very common, leaving maybe 15% individuals of species who do turn (one uncommon type of more northerly oak, and some maples), typically in mid-December for a mere 2 weeks or so.
South Georgia here. There are but pine trees here, mostly. A weekend trip to the north of the state gives a much better autumn view, plus the chance to buy orchard apples.
We were enjoying some takeout breakfast sandwiches this morning near Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire. Next to us in the parking lot were four cars from New Jersey. We engaged one of the passengers in chitchat, and learned they were a caravan of East Indian immigrants who had driven from NJ specifically for the leaf season.
Our relatives come up from Texas to see them in piecemeal visits…sometimes my niece, or nephew, or brother, etc.
Leaf peepers go to NH to see the foliage in the mountains, where it is most spectacular. That’s why we drive from our house (which has some great color around us) to the mountains, because the foliage is better there. That’s why the greater Boston area goes north during leaf season. You can drive the backroads or over the Kanc or hike in the Whites and see foliage like you cannot see around Boston.
I agree it’s better up north. That said, have you ever gone to the top of the tower in Mt. Auburn Cemetery at the height of leaf season? It’s quite lovely.
Here in California, outside of the mountains, deciduous leaves turn dull yellow, then brown, then curl up, and then fall off. And they don’t do it one tree at a time, let alone all at once for most trees. Each leaf has its own cycle. By the time all of the leaves on a tree are yellow, a number of them will already be brown and another number of them will have fallen off. So the trees will be looking shaggy.
Also a Floridian. It didn’t occur to me until earlier this year that the beautiful yellow leaves from the iconic swordfight in Hero (2002) were normal fall colors in some places - I assumed it was just an artsy thing for that movie, like the transition to red leaves.
If I happened to be driving and saw colors like this, I would probably pull over and spend a few minutes just gazing in awe.
ETA: I wouldn’t be standing on the opposite lip of the highway though. That’s kind of dumb. If you pull over, stick to the right side, preferably on the other side of your car, even further from actual traffic.
~Max
I was in the Catskills last weekend, with leaves at their peak, and at the parking lot for this fall festival, Fall Festival | Oct 08 — 09, 2022 - Belleayre Mountain, apart from NY plates, I saw cars with plates from NJ, PA, MD, VA, SC, GA and FL.
I was in southern NH for work for two weeks (maybe 20 or more years ago now) in leaf season, so on the weekend a friend and I rented a car and drove to a state park expecting to see lots of beautiful fall foliage. What I noticed was that there were lots of very colorful trees planted near the roads, where the most people could see them, but in the state park there wasn’t nearly that much bright color.
What I concluded from this was that those colorful species weren’t especially native to the area, but they were planted there by the locals to increase tourism. Possibly too much of a conclusion for one day’s sightseeing. But I found myself persuasive.
Colorado mountains here. People go nuts for the Aspen leaves. The peepers cause bad conjestion on a highway I use frequently. Drives me a bit nuts.