LISLE, Ill. (WBBM Newsradio) – Cooler nights and shorter days are bringing more fall color to the Chicago area, with yellows emerging on walnuts and honey locusts and reds and oranges appearing on maples.
“Things are really starting to pick up speed here in the Chicago area,” said Dr. Christy Rollinson, senior scientist at the Morton Arboretum.
The seasonal display is running late, giving people more time to enjoy the foliage.
“There is still lots of color to come,” Rollinson said. “We are tracking late this year, so we will probably be having good color through the end of the month, maybe into November.”
At the Arboretum in Lisle, she recommends the Maple Collection, which features dozens of varieties that turn different colors. The Arboretum’s Oct. 13 report also highlights deep oranges and reds on woodland sugar maples, red sumacs and dogwoods, and golden grasses in the Schulenberg Prairie.
Fall colors brighten the woodlands at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle
The Morton Arboretum
Behind the scenery is a biological response to seasonal signals. As trees stop producing green chlorophyll, yellow and orange pigments already in their leaves become visible.
“As the days get shorter, that’s one of the things that trees rely on to say, ‘Hey, winter’s coming. It’s time to shut down,’” Rollinson said. “Cold temperatures at night are another one.”
Those changes also offer clues about longer-term environmental shifts.
“Some of the best information we have about the impacts of climate change is from people taking records on spring leaf out and spring bloom and the fall colors,” Rollinson said.
