Fall

Every autumn, trees seem to perform a kind of magic trick. The green of summer gradually disappears, and forests, neighborhoods, parks, and streets fill with gold, yellow, orange, red, and purple. But those colors are not appearing out of nowhere. Many of them have been there all along, hidden beneath the dominant green of chlorophyll. As days shorten and temperatures cool, trees begin preparing for winter. One of the most visible signs of that prepa-ration is the gradual dis

As autumn days cool, Washington County comes alive with bright reds, oranges and yellows—a vivid contrast to the deep greens of our characteristic conifers. You don’t have to drive far to find beautiful foliage. In fact, some suburban neighborhoods can offer an even broader palette than our native-dominated forests because of the variety of deciduous trees planted along streets and around homes. Fall color varies tremendously from street to street and year to year, depending