Wish you folks could be looking out my office window now. Never have I seen such a beautiful Autumn in the Southern Highlands. Perhaps it was a combination of temperature, just the right rains at the right time and low humidity, but the spectacle of colors is beyond description. For days we have had crystal blue skies with not a cloud in sight. The blue background accentuates the palate of colors that range from hemlock green to lime green to yellow to gold to orange to pink to burgundy to scarlet to red to reddish brown. Over night the sugar maples, hickories, black gums and red maples suddenly started their show. The red oak trees are just beginning to display orange tips. Their show comes last!
I have often wondered why deciduous trees change color in such a spectacular way. I am not talking about the biochemical process, but the philosphy behind it. Most everything else in nature has a reason. Plants have flowers and produce a fragrance to attract insects and birds for pollination. During the winter, deciduous trees store their sap in the roots and drop their leaves as a protection against freezing. Yet . . . having irridescently bright color leaves seems to have nothing to do with survival of a plant species.
Maybe this rainbow of colors is just a little gift from God - just like true love between a man and woman is what puts human existence on a plain above that of most animals. Whatever the reason, it does make living here in the Southern Highlands something special, and I give a little prayer of thanks for it.
Bubba from Talking Rock, Jawja
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| Autumn Color In the Blue Ridge Mountains |
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butterfly943
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Nov 5 @ 12:45PM
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Maybe this rainbow of colors is just a little gift from God - Beautiful..up until a week ago we wernt seeing many color changes here in middle SC but now...its awesome out 
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Etowah
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Nov 5 @ 12:55PM
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You know one thing that is odd. Until the early 1990s the time for peak color in the North Georgia Mountains was always around October 16. You can see that historical fact in the timing of all the Fall festivals in the Southern Highlands. However, each year since then, the color change has come a day or so later, so that now the peak color is around November 8.
Another odd thing is that Sugar Maples were fairly uncommon in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains when I was a kid, but now they are becoming a dominant species almost everywhere. Their presence greatly enhances the range of colors in these mountains.
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gunn12fan
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Nov 5 @ 1:58PM
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I bet they are really pretty wish i could see them
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KnittinKitten
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Nov 5 @ 2:07PM
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Thanks so much for your vivid description....I CAN see them, my friend....from YOUR eyes. The Fall Foliage is one of the things I miss, not living in New England anymore. While Tour Leading, I enjoyed MANY Fall Foliage trips through Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut. 
Now, THAT was spectacular color....Wish I had been better at picture taking. It's a good thing I still possess a technicolor "mind's eye". Maybe I should simply plan a Fall Foliage trip next Fall!
Fondly,
KK
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kywonder
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Nov 5 @ 5:23PM
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Aw the beautiful colors of autumn splashed against an azure sky. So breathtaking. Surely no one paints a picture as pretty as God. The ultimate Artist.
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summerbreeze916
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Nov 5 @ 7:37PM
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Etowah: I so do love the beautiful display of colors during the Autumn. Unfortunately, we don't have a leaf on a tree left. It passes much too quickly here. 
I will be watching for the Aurora Borealis, though. It is another beautiful wonder! 
You do so paint a gorgeous picture...............
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