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Autumn colors

by - 3.10.08

autumn

1 Okt 08


"It was you that set up all the boundaries of the earth; summer and winter—you yourself formed them."—Psalm 74:17.
And so's autumn and spring.

Autumn has arrived...the sun has been sharing so few of its light, the plants and trees started to manifest its absence.

So how, or more appropriately, why does the green leaves of summer turns to yellow, orange or red during autumn? We know that leaves have the green pigment chlorophyll used in the production of plant food (glucose). Leaves also has the yellow (carotenoid pigment) and red (anthocyanin pigments) but is not seen much because they are covered up by chlorophyll. The leaves know that it is autumn when the days become shorter and shorter, since 'photosynthesis,' the process where plant makes food happens with the help of light.


As animals hibernate during winter, so does some plants and trees in the same way. Animals store fats and sleep off during winter while plant leaves store glucose and shut down their food making factories. The chlorophyll are then gone and now the yellow and red pigments are revealed, naturally when they combine, orange is produced.

As for maple trees, persimmons and other red colored leaves, the leftover foods plus the (occasional) sunlight and cool breeze of autumn makes this wonderful color comes out.

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11 comments

  1. autumn is my favorite time of the year. even tho' we don't get much explosion in colors where we live, there are plenty of maples and ash to satisfy our cravings.

    i bet you have a magnificent view during this time.

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  2. I love this ornamental grapevine! We have some in our neighborhood, and they are one of my autumn favorites. It will be another 3-5 weeks before we get color like yours, however.

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  3. Great Autumn color shot and Bible quotation.

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  4. The vine maple against the concrete foundation is particularly nice.

    It just occurs to me I never answered your question regarding stock ... I'll try to get to that this weekend.

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  5. wow! autumn reminds us of something special is coming.

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  6. Autumn is also my favourite season to photograph. wo very beautiful images. The second one is very clever and really stunning.

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  7. Beautiful indeed, specialy the last photo!

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  8. Wonderful photos, especially that reddish grape vine. It's really something one could stare at for a while.

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  9. I adore that maple tree photo, such great framing and contrast. Nice job! :)

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