Hidden Colors

View of Mt. Cammer from Foothills Parkway, Cosby, TN

It has been a beautiful fall here in East Tennessee.  It seems it took a bit longer for the trees to come into their full colors, but for the past several weeks they have been providing vivid and dynamic colors.  Here it is the second week of November and there is still much color in the neighborhood.  One day this past week as I drove home from town admiring the yellows, oranges and reds of maples, hickories, gums and sumac, I decided once again that the fall is my favorite season……at least until spring.

At my core I love nature and I still carry some of my life science curiosity, questioning and training from my college years as a biology/forestry major.  Each fall as I observe the leaves changing from their many shades of green to their many shades of color I can’t help but remember the science behind the transformation from green to a rainbow color pallet.



Our "Tree House" Maple

                                        

 

My daughter-in-law, Mimi, and I were talking a few weeks back as the color transformations began.  She was speculating about how weather or climatic factors influence the quality of the annual foliage display.  At that point, my old plant physiology factoids merged into our conversation when I said, “You know those colors are there in the leaves all summer, you just can’t see them due to the chlorophyll; and it’s the change in shorter days and longer nights that triggers the appearance of colors.”

Later when I had some second thoughts about the accuracy of my comment, I did a quick fact check with the National Arboretum website and found that my memory of plant physiology was almost correct. 

 

Here is the scoop.  The green of the chlorophyll normally masks the yellow pigments known as xanthophylls and the orange pigments called carotenoids — both become visible when the green chlorophyll is gone. These colors are present in the leaf throughout the growing season. Got that part right.  The red and purple pigments come from anthocyanins. In the fall anthocyanins are manufactured from the sugars that are trapped in the leaf. In most plants anthocyanins are typically not present during the growing season. I'd forgotten about how the reds get there. 

Eventually all the color pigments break down in light or when they are frozen. The only pigments that remain are tannins, which are brown.

Along the Foothills Parkway near Cosby, TN

Well, three out of four ain’t too bad I guess. At any rate, the colors begin appearing when triggered by the seasonal transition to shorter days, longer nights and cooling temperatures.  In short, it’s the “change” that brings out the colors.

So, as I drove home that day and admired the colors again I thought about the “hidden colors” of the trees.  The hidden pigments of yellow, orange and brown are there during the green summer season and reds appear later due to the sugars trapped in the leaf. It is only when the green pigments of chlorophyll begin to breakdown, photosynthesis ceases and sugar content increases; that the brilliant colors of autumn are able to show through the greens of summer.

The thought occurred to me that people are like deciduous trees in some respects.  I’ve heard it said that there is a bit of good and bad, beauty and ugliness in every one of us.  When life is generally good and we are active, productive and growing there is a dominate personality that is apparent to those around us.  They see our predominate color.  But sometimes, if we get “shook up” or there is a time of stress, change or transition, our other personality “colors” may show through.

Fortunately for us, living in the hills and mountains of Appalachia, the transition of seasons triggers some of the best and most enjoyable colors of the year in our deciduous trees. Those seasonal changes seem to bring out the brightest and most pleasant colors of the year in our native trees.

 

Another colorful view along a six mile stretch of the
Foothills Parkway connecting Cosby, Tn with I-40.

As I experience my own transition times in the seasons of life; when my days grow shorter and the nights are cooler, so to speak, here’s hoping that I will display some of my best and most pleasant colors in the autumn of life. 

May we all hope to show the colors of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control and long-suffering.  May they be visible to those around us, adding some color to the day.

Sumac

Now, let’s ramble and enjoy what’s left of this fall season!