Fall color in North Texas is capricious and ephemeral.
Often it’s too warm and too dry. Sometimes a strong storm sweeps all the leaves away. Or, a blue norther brings a hard freeze, leaving everything a lifeless brown.
But this year could be different, according to Don Smith, a retired University of North Texas botanist. The cold came early and is hanging around. There’s still plenty of sunshine during the day to make the magic happen deep within the leaves.
Photosynthesis slows in the fall, which makes yellow pigments in leaves more visible, Smith said.
When nights get cold, the nourishment meant for the rest of the tree stays trapped in the leaves instead. Those compounds add to the display, bringing deeper hues of orange and red to the golds and yellows.
Smith wrote a brief primer on this year’s fall colors for the newsletter sent to fellow residents at Lake Forest Village. Lake Forest grounds have been landscaped with plenty of trees that give good color regardless of conditions — Bradford pear, Chinese pistache and red oak.
No matter how perfect the conditions, other common North Texas trees — cottonwood, elm, mulberry, pecan and post oak — won’t take on much color, he said.
But their golden hues may glow a little brighter in the evening sun.
In the fall of 2010, conditions started to set up as they did in 2006, 2002 and 1993, the last time Denton saw beautiful fall colors.
But it didn’t last, Smith said.
Should conditions continue, this year’s color could last until Thanksgiving, he said.
“We’re set up for a really good one,” Smith said of fall’s colors. “But it could go away in one day.”
PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881 and via Twitter at @phwolfeDRC.
