Fall

Fall is fading fast on Mackinac. The vast majority of the leaves have fallen, so I was quite surprised to find these maple leaves near the Post Office this week. Of course it got me wondering... Why did those leaves hang on longer? Was there something abut that location that protected them, or do maples in general drop their leaves later? And, why were all the leave so red this year? So of course I had to look it up.

Apparently when you have cold (but not freezing nights) along with bright sunny days it triggers maples to produce more of a red pigment, while rainy gray days are more favorable for a yellow pigment. It makes perfect sense - this has been one of the nicest falls I can remember: warm and sunny with only a handful of frosts. That must be the reason why, this year, Grand Hill looked like this:

Photo courtesy of Grand Hotel

Those leaves are all gone now, but they were stunning.