The colors of fall

MADISON — Crisp cool days bring sweaters, thoughts of Halloween costumes and afternoons spent raking leaves and walnuts out of the yard. But it’s the changing of the leaves from summer green to various amber hues that vividly illustrates the change of season in a way cooler temperatures alone do not.

In addition to the foliage, autumn brings an increase in tourist traffic to Madison County, according to Madison County Chamber of Commerce Director Tracey Gardner.

“There is absolutely an increase in people visiting, people calling (this time of year),” said Gardner. “I have people who call to ask if the mountains (around Graves Mountain Lodge) have changed or if the leaves on Old Rag (Mountain) have changed.”

Eleanor Damico of Rochelle’s Ridge View bed and breakfast, agrees with Gardner.

“Oh definitely, always during the fall we get a number of people coming,” she said.

“I do know that a lot of B and B’s tend to book at that time of year,” said Gardner about the fall tourists. “It’s just the general consensus that the numbers (of tourists) increase during the peak (of leaf color), or the anticipated peak.”

One family is visiting Rochelle for the ninth time this fall, according to Damico.

“They come the third weekend in October every year. I think people just want to be out in the country (in the fall). (We have) around 100 guests from mid-September to mid-November.”

Dreama Travis, the innkeeper at the Old Mill House Bed and Breakfast in Graves Mill agreed.

“It definitely does get busy at this time of year, I have people coming from all over, even different countries,” said Travis. “I’m pretty well booked through the fall already. (Visitors) come for the nice weather, and the leaves turning.”

“I think they’ll be beautiful this year,” Madison County Cooperative Extension Service ChAgent Adam Downing said of the leaves. “I know that some (people) like to slice and dice and say they’re better one year however, I have been thinking that this year will be quite nice since it’s been a moist year. The trees have been able to produce a lot of sugar and if we get the trees to trap the sugar we’ll get some nice reds.”

Though most of the leaves will change on a somewhat predictable schedule, the focus, according to Downing, should be on the more variable window of color intensity. The noticeable leaf change normally starts in mid-October and is a response to the amount of sunlight the trees receive, according to Downing. The gradual color shift takes more than a month. The leaves, however, will go through a briefer period of intense color that lasts about 10 days and is harder to predict.

“I think the leaves may be a little earlier than normal this year,” said Downing. “It’s been cooler earlier, which is a factor in the brilliance.”

Madison County has a wide variety of trees, meaning that it should offer a panorama of hues when the color change happens.

“The blackgum is one of the first trees to turn,” said Downing. “It’s a harbinger of fall and while it does turn a nice color most people don’t talk about it, though, it’s a pretty nice color producer and gets you geared up for fall and it’s a good tough tree.”

Among the brighter trees to watch will be the blackgums and maples which turn red and hickory and beech which turn yellow, according to Downing, who finds even poison ivy attractive in the fall. The oft-pulled weed turns a bright red and has berries during the autumn. However, it will still cause a reaction.

Cool nights will help the leaf color intensity by trapping the sugar produced by the tree in the leaves, according to Downing.

“The sugar is what brings out the anthocyanins (red color) in the maple and the gum,” said Downing. “The reds are dependant on the sugars trapped in the leaves. The orange and the yellows are caused by carotenoids. We have a nice mixed of species around here to see the mix of color.”

Visitors to Madison County, and the rest of the state, have made enough of an impression that Virginia Department of Forestry has a new page on its Web site covering the issue.
For information visit dof.virginia.gov/fall/index.shtml.