Colours of Fall

Sender: elstejay

Text on card: The magnificent colours of fall. Ontario.

What a lovely scene.....green, yellow, orange, red and brown trees. Living in a tropical climate, I do not get the chance to see the "colours of fall" (though I'm more familiar with the word "autumn" rather than "fall"). Trees are mainly evergreen here. If they suddenly turn yellow or brown, it may well be that they are dying! 

Ontario even has Fall Colours Reports updated by its Ministry of Tourism. The Ministry also makes suggestions on a number of fall drives, travel routes, road trips and circle tours for tourists to enjoy the beautiful display of nature. Isn't that splendid? "Leaf peeping" tourism!

Why do the leaves change colour in fall/autumn in some areas? 

'As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees "know" to begin getting ready for winter. During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colours. Small amounts of these colours have been in the leaves all along. We just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll. The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red colour. The brown colour of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves.It is the combination of all these things that make the beautiful fall foliage colours we enjoy each year.'

Beautiful stamp selection. I wish my scanner can really capture the bright colours of the card and stamps!