The changing colours of autumn

Everyone has colour in their aura, their true colours. There are positive and negative meanings to all colours and the choice is that of the individual concerned as to how they use them. The colours in your aura can often reflect your mood or your personality. How you feel 'inside' can affect the 'outside'. For instance, if you are feeling down and low, what you are feeling 'inside' is negative. Perhaps you are feeling 'Blue'. If you are feeling angry or frustrated perhaps you are 'Seeing Red'. Perhaps you are feeling 'Green with Envy'. These negative vibrations of energy go out into your aura and thus can 'change' your 'true colours' and also your personality. You then have the choice of remaining in the negative frame of mind or you can change. If you are feeling good 'inside' then the affect will be felt on the 'outside' in a positive way. You can feel at peace with yourself in the Blue, or full of enthusiasm for life with the Red, or balanced and in-touch with nature when you work with the Green. Or perhaps your are 'feeling in the Pink'. The circles below indicate the positive and negative qualities of different colours.

Lack of Balance & Direction for many people autumn is a time of beauty, when the natural world treats us to a last burst of colour before the onset of winter.

The leaf colours in autumn 2003 and 2004 were particularly spectacular and long lasting, more vibrant and varied than usual. A surge of interest in the 'hows' and 'whys' of leaf colour change was reflected in numerous newspapers articles, radio and television interviews and website pages devoted to the subject.

The annual colour change and leaf shedding that is characteristic of broad-leaved trees is closely linked to the way they obtain food.

Trees, like the majority of plants, produce their own food by a process called photosynthesis. It takes place in the leaves which contain a chemical pigment called chlorophyll which makes leaves look green. It's produced in leaf cells throughout the growing season when it is warm and sunny and has an essential role in photosynthesis.

Carotene, is another chemical pigment found in leaf cells throughout the growing season and has a secondary role in photosynthesis. The yellow colour of carotene isn't visible in spring and summer leaves because it is masked by the green of the chlorophyll.

As summer turns into autumn, the shorter days and cooler nights trigger two major changes in the leaf, both of which have consequences for its colour:

chlorophyll production slows down and eventually stops, the remaining chlorophyll breaks down and the green colouration fades to reveal the yellow carotene. Trees with yellow autumn leaves include birch, horse chestnut, sycamore and hazel.
a layer of corky cells forms across the base of leaf stalk, in preparation for leaf shedding, which restricts the movement of sugars back to the main part of the tree. Sugars become concentrated in the leaf and are eventually converted to anthocyanin, a red/purple chemical pigment. The red leaves of maple and beech contain high levels of anthocyanin. Leaves with a combination of anthocyanin and carotene appear orange.

It's not only chemical changes in the leaves that affect their colour. Autumn weather conditions also have an effect:

cold nights - low temperatures destroy chlorophyll so the green leaf fades to yellow, but if temperatures stay above freezing anthocyanin production is enhanced and the leaves take on a red colour.
dry weather - sugars become concentrated in the leaves, more anthocyanin is produced and consequently leaves are redder.
bright sunny days - although the production of new chlorophyll stops in autumn, photosynthesis can still occur on sunny autumn days, using the remaining chlorophyll. Sugar concentration increases, more anthocyanin is produced and the leaves are redder.

So, for the greatest variety and intensity of autumn colours, sunny, dry autumn days with cold but not freezing nights are best, especially if preceded by a dry summer. Cloudy and rainy autumn days on the other hand, lead to muted autumn colours.

If the weather conditions of summer and autumn 2003 and 2004 are typical of climate warming we can expect to see many more vibrant autumns in the future. If you are thinking about all the lovely colours that trees display for a few brief weeks, why not take a look at the lovely wood colours displayed when they are made into fine furniture that can be enjoyed all year round? www.thechairdesigner.com

Scarlet Pixel would like to thank Nature Detectives who kindly allowed the above article to be reproduced here. Nature Detectives is a website for teachers, parents, youth groups and kids to discover the natural world and explore the changing timing of the seasons across the UK: www.naturedetectives.org.uk