Why do leaves change colour in autumn?
What the trees can teach me...
There’s a real chill in the air here today and the roofs were blanketed in a glittery layer of frost when I woke up this morning. The trees in the distance were covered in a moody mist that obscured all signs of human life and made it look like there was nothing but a vast forest out the back (there isn’t). This time of year always makes me pensive. As I squinted at the view from the window of our bathroom the other morning, fresh from bed, the clouds almost tricked me into thinking they were mountains. As if vast peaks had sprung up from the horizon as I slept. Weirder things have happened I guess. I went back to bed and wrote a poem about it. A poem?.. Clearly during this time of year, at the turn of the season, I turn into an entirely different beast.
There’s something to be said about the way the landscape changes so drastically around this time of year. It’s subtle at first - the odd tree begins slowly turning from green to brown, I notice the geese back on their daily flyovers again. Then BANG, the ground is coated in a thick layer of leaves, the Puffa comes out of the cupboard, the heating (occasionally) goes on, everyone starts talking about Christmas as if it’s actually imminent and I get stressed out about the number of plans I have coming up and all the things I haven’t yet done this year.
I’m trying to lean more into the beauty of it all, rather than the underlying sense of panic that the year is almost over. I’m trying to remind myself there are still months left of this year, I am not running out of time (any more than usual at least) and the plans I have are mostly nice ones. I think I need to do take my own advice and do some nature journaling, follow my curiosity…
Mid-September was the last time I journaled. I made a little zine to use as a ‘cheat sheet’ on our Wild South London Autumn Equinox walk around Brockwell Park and filled it with facts about some of the things we might see. One thing I always like to refresh my memory of around this time of year is how and why some trees change colour and lose their leaves in autumn. It is, of course, all to do with preserving their energy for the cooler months. Reading back through my notes, I think I need to channel a tree in autumn, shed the things that are holding me back, absorb the things I really need right now and probably just chill the fuck out a bit…
What happens to a tree in autumn?
As temperatures cool, deciduous trees enter a state of hibernation. They stop producing chlorophyll and drop their leaves to preserve energy and moisture. This allows them to stay alive during winter, when there isn’t enough sunlight to carry out photosynthesis. Storing their energy and entering this state of dormancy gives trees an opportunity to grow fresh leaves that can collect light better than their old, damaged or fragile leaves. Emma Mitchell put it beautifully in her book The Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us:
It is during October that trees begin to reabsorb the chlorophyll from their leaves before they fall. As this green pigment, essential for photosynthesis, moves back into the tree, it unmasks colour compounds that have been there all year. Ever-present carotenoids and flavonoids are responsible for the oranges and yellows that appear in woods and parkland at this time of year, and they’re joined by the red and occasional pink and purple of anthocyanins whose synthesis begins in autumn. I like the thought that many of the jewel-like colours of spindle, hawthorn, field maple and cherry are there throughout the spring and summer, and that when the weather grows colder and greyer and the fields become drab their colour is revealed.
Nobody knows for sure why trees waste their energy producing these chemicals (carotenoids, flavonoids, anthocyanins), despite the fact they’re only going to get rid of them. One theory is that they help protect leaves from sunlight until all useful minerals have been absorbed. Either way, I’m grateful they exist, because despite my feeling of unrest at this time of year, I never tire of those colours!
Your task
This week I’d like to encourage you to notice signs of the changing season and/or how the natural world around you affects your mood (whether that’s the habits of your local flora and fauna or what the weather is up to). Perhaps you might like to get your journal out and document your thoughts, draw some seasonal shifts or maybe even spontaneously write a poem?!
P.S. That poem’s staying firmly in my notes app, don’t you worry.
If you’re in London, why not come along to the next Wild South London event on 2nd November? We’ll be making masks, hosting a Trick or Tree trail and leading a folktale walk in Beckenham Place Park. Free tickets are available on eventbrite.
Wanna see the poem...! Oh well, will content myself with telling you I had my last (I guess) devil-garnished blackberry yesterday. Delicious! Clearly I get on with said devil x