What a relief. When you leave the house in the morning, it feels a lot more like fall will soon be here. Temperatures are more tolerable, and the humidity has dropped significantly. It is a joy to be outside to enjoy the weather, the beautiful blue skies, and to see all the plants in the landscape begin to change to their fall colors.

One of the things I like about the fall is that it is time for county fairs. The Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair will start next Thursday. The gates will open at 4 p.m. at the Robeson County Fairgrounds for the 60th Anniversary of this fair. Since this is the celebration of 60 years of excellence, the Board of Directors of the fair, along with hundreds of volunteers and dozens of sponsors, have planned a fair for you that you will never forget.

If you attend your county fair each year, I am sure you are getting excited about this year's fair. If you have never attended your county fair before or if it has been many years since you attended, I would like to extend a special invitation to you to visit your fair this year. This fair is nothing like the fairs of 20 or 30 years ago. This is truly a family affair, offering entertainment, exhibits, contests, livestock shows, foods, and exciting carnival rides for all ages. If you do visit the fair and do not enjoy your visit, I would like to ask that you contact me while on the fairgrounds and share your concerns or dislikes with me. I will be on the fairgrounds every day and, like all the other fair board members, will be wearing a purple shirt.

As we get ready for fall, many of us will be making special arrangements to view and enjoy the spectacular change of colors of many of the trees and other plants in North Carolina. Some will enjoy the colors right here in Robeson County while others will travel to the mountains for a more spectacular display of colors. The colors will be more spectacular in the mountains, because there are many more deciduous trees there than in the coastal plains. The predominant trees in the mountains are deciduous that loose their leaves each fall -- like oaks, maples, hickory, popular, sassafras, gums, and dogwoods. In the coastal plains, the predominant trees are pines, which maintain green needles throughout the year.

Many of us will never pause to think about why and how these changes take place. Why do leaves on the trees change colors in the fall?

Leaves change colors because of a chemical process that takes place as the seasons change. During the spring and summer, leaves serve as tiny factories that make the foods necessary for tree growth. This takes place in the leaf cells containing chlorophyll which gives the leaves their green color. Along with this chlorophyll are yellow and orange carotenoids, but the green chlorophyll is much more dominant and masks the yellows and oranges. In addition to chlorophyll and carotenoids, some trees, like maples, dogwoods, and sumacs, also contain red and purple pigments.

As the chlorophyll begins to break down in the fall as the days get shorter, the green color disappears and the brilliant yellows, oranges, reds, and purples become more visible.

In addition to the length of the days, the weather has a big affect on just how brilliant the colors may be. Ideal weather for the most brilliant colors are warm, sunny days followed by cool nights with temperatures below 45 degrees.

Sugar is made in the leaves during the daytime, but cool nights prevent movement of the sugars from the leaves. Red pigments from the chemical anthocyanin are formed when the sugars become trapped in the leaves.

The degree of color may vary from tree to tree. Leaves exposed directly to the sun may turn red, while leaves on the other side of the tree that are in the shade or nearby trees of the same species that are in the shade may be a brilliant yellow.

The most brilliant and vivid colors appear after a warm, dry summer and early autumn rains which prevent early leaf fall. Long periods of wet weather in late fall produce rather drab colors.

Although several other regions of the United States have a brilliant show of colors in the fall, North Carolina can boast to greatest color and brilliance because of the diversity of trees in our state. During the next six weeks, hundreds of thousands of tourist, both from North Carolina and from other regions, will visit the North Carolina mountains simply to view the leaves. This will have a tremendous impact on the tourism industry in our state.

So sit back and enjoy the fall weather. In addition, now that you know more about how and why leaves change colors, you can enjoy the colors of fall even more.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 10/10/06