Mariton: Fall Color? Yes and No.

by Tim Burris, Preserve Manager.  Photos by Carole Mebus.

The fall colors are changing slowly. I often comment that Mariton doesn’t have a peak color weekend.  Because of the diversity of tree species in our forest, the leaves have a rolling peak of colors – there are usually one or two species changing, while other species may still be green.  While colors seem late this year, it isn’t necessarily so.  If you remember the Halloween Snow Storm on October 29, 2011, many tree leaves were still green and the snow stuck to those leaves bringing down many limbs with the combined weight.  One year later, the leaves had all fallen off when Hurricane Sandy hit our area, otherwise the damage would have been much, much worse.

Right now some trees have yet to change color, while others have already dropped their leaves.  For some perspective, Carole has two photos of the same tree taken nearly a year a part.  (Notice the trees in the background also.)

Red Maple on October 31, 2017

The same Red Maple on October 23, 2018.