Show of colors: Fall foliage in Worcester County running late toward peak but on the way

WORCESTER — New England has always been a contender for the fall foliage capital of the country, with people coming from near and far to see the brilliant reds, oranges and yellows.

The show got a late start this year, as the arboreal fireworks display suffered some delays due to wet fuses.

“Colors have definitely been delayed,” said Joshua Rapp, senior forest ecologist at Mass. Audubon's Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Worcester. “I live near the Quabbin and the typical peak is the first or second week of October.”

However, that doesn’t mean the show is canceled. While an usually wet summer means that the trees’ annual color change was pushed back by a couple of weeks, those that would have hit their peak by late September to mid-October are beginning to light up.  “It felt like a muted fall at first but (colors) suddenly popped here and other parts of the state,” said Rapp.

Happy trees working overtime

The fall color change is part of the process of trees shutting down photosynthesis for the year and losing their chlorophyll, which gives leaves their green color, revealing the secondary compounds that show up as yellows.

“The weather has dampened the production of sugars in the leaves, and that’s what gives those brilliant reds,” said Martha Gach, Mass. Audubon’s education manager and conservation coordinator.

“Yellow is the background color, what you get without chlorophyll, but reds and oranges are produced in response to stress” such as really intense sunlight, drought or frost, explained Rapp. A rainy and therefore cloudy,summer and a warm fall mean that none of these things have been in evidence, which means green, leafy and relaxed trees.

With the soil saturated from moisture, “the trees are happy, so they’re just chugging along,” said Rapp. This won’t continue indefinitely though, he said. “At some point they have to stop because the cues from sunlight and temperature tell them to shut down for the year.”

The sugar builds up in the leaf before it is moved and used to make new bark and grow the tree. As the leaves get ready to fall off, they separate from the tree and close the veins through which the sugar travels, trapping it in the leaf and triggering the color change.

Head out on the water for best colors

While the overall seasonal conditions may mean colors are finally coming in, there are still places to go for the best sights. These variations come down to microhabitat conditions, said Rapp, such as soil and topography.

“Leaves near marshes and wetlands tend to turn earlier,” said Gach.

Those trees don’t get as much nitrogen from the soil, so they’re more stressed.

“Around wetlands, they tend to be lower elevation and therefore cooler, so they think that fall is coming a little bit earlier than their neighbors up the hill,” she said.

She said her bird-watching group has noticed brilliant swamp maples on the edges of ponds and marshes.

This leads to the classic fall photos of brightly colored trees along the edge of a pond or lake, their colors mirrored on the water’s surface.

Worcester resident Joan Greenhalgh can attest to this, having noticed fewer colors in the city as opposed to other parts of Central Massachusetts. “Worcester Common has barely turned at all so far,” she said, looking out the coffee shop window at the deep green trees. “But our lake house up in the Brookfields has brilliant colors, though.”

A matter of perspective

It can also depend on what trees are seen where. For example, sugar maples are considered one of the most beautiful trees in the fall and are very muted this year, said Rapp. While not the most dominant species in Worcester County, the specimens that are here are often planted along roads. "So even though there are not a lot in woods, they are a very visible tree," he said, and with it, their lack of colors.

Why are these traditionally beautiful trees not living up to their reputation this year? This has been a masting year for sugar maples — when a tree produces more seeds than usual in a given year. "This has been the heaviest seed crop for sugar maples I’ve seen since 2011," said Rapp.

The trees are putting more of their resources such as nitrogen into those seeds, so a lot of their leaves turn brown and fall off early. Also, leaves and seeds come from the same buds so more seeds mean fewer leaves overall. "They're taking this year to invest in seeds rather than leaves," he said.

Can't rush Mother Nature

Overall, leaf peepers have nothing to fear, said Gach. "The colors are late. There is some muting of them but mostly, they’re just late."

"Nature has its own schedule," she said. "Things might change slightly but generally, things happen at a certain time and that's what's so great about it."

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester County peak fall foliage running late owing to damp weather