The Color of Autumn

Autumn in the south, or rather the deep south, doesn’t really start showing its true colors until November. We get tinges of it in September but usually at that point it is because of summer drought stress in the trees and the leaves begin going golden. October get a bit more of a pronouncement, especially if we get a cool front in the month, or like this year an early freeze at the end of the month. By November the colors start coming in and definitely by late Thanksgiving we’ve gone to what most people would consider ‘brown’. But if you look right, and especially if you get a rainy and cloudy day, the colors really come through—ruddy browns, shades of tan, tinges of grey, fluorescent greens, mauves, pinches of cinnamon, and warm caramels begin coming through.

It’s almost like the people who complain about Florida not having seasons—it’s subtle. We don’t get the grand leaf drop that folks in northern latitudes get, but the colors are there. You just have to stop and look a little deeper than you may be used to.

Photos taken at Cooper Lake State Park, Thanksgiving 2019.