Fall in Northeast Ohio can be a great time to get outdoors and take in views of the treetops as the leaves change —especially in places like the Holden Arboretum.
The arboretum is the perfect place to take in fall scenery, Assistant Curator Alex Faidiga said, thanks to its diverse collection of trees and variety of locations like Corning Lake.
"But when we're having kind of more of the peak... the reds and the oranges look really beautiful reflected on the water out here," she said.
Another good spot to view the colors is the arboretum's emergent tower. "You can't really get a view like that anywhere else being above the wood line," Faidiga said.
Trees and foliage change color at different points in the season, and turn different hues as the season progresses, she explained. At the arboretum, one might see buttery yellows of the pawpaw trees, while tupelo and sassafras trees turn a deeper red.
The length of the fall season depends on weather conditions. Wetter, cooler temperatures mean more time to take in fall views.
The longer nights and cooler temperatures affect the amounts of chlorophyll and other pigments in the leaves, according to Faidiga.
"Chlorophyll is what causes leaves to be green. But there's other pigments in leaves like carotenoids, for example, that become more abundant in the leaf as we start to transition into fall," she said. "We start to see oranges and yellows and less of those greens that come from chlorophyll."
This year’s drought could impact when and how the trees change, Faidiga said. Lake County, where Holden Arboretum is located, has been mostly spared from the drought.
While people in dryer areas may have less time to experience the fall foliage, Faidiga said, at the arboretum, they expect peak color around the last two weeks of October.
"The rest of the state, especially Southeast Ohio, is experiencing extreme drought. So that'll cause kind of like early fall color from stress a lot of times, and it's not great for a long seasonal fall color," she said. "Here we're probably going to see a relatively average year in terms of like the length of fall color."
