Autumn Colours

In the United States the autumn transition is big business. Foliage fans there fuel a multi billion dollar tourist trade and “leaf peeping” here could boost our tourism as we take on New England for autumn colour.

Crystal Palace park during the autumn

But why are we starting to see such vibrant colours? “As our climate changes”, suggests Nigel Taylor, The Curator of The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, “the hotter sunnier summers followed by sudden changes in autumn kick off the process of autumn colour development in a much stronger way.”

At Alice Holt in Surrey the Forestry Commission will be keeping a close eye on the autumn hues. They will be marking the colours on a scale from one to five and leaf lovers can see where the forests are ablaze on their website.

Colin Palmer from the Commission says “In the next few weeks beech will start to turn yellow then a fiery orange. Norway maple will be turning a fantastic yellow. Then you’ll get the scarlet and red oaks and we all know about the Japanese maple”.