Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Extravagant Colours of the Canadian Autumn -- 1

Canada, at present, is in the midst of the autumn season. The Nature is in flame here. Gorgeous autumn colours (yellow, orange, brown, bronze, red and purple) in leaves are aspread from the east coast to the west coast, from the north to the south.

With the passing of the summer, the autumn comes with shorter and colder days which make trees know that they have to get ready for the coming winter. Since there wouldn't be enough sunlight and water during the winter, the trees know that they wouldn't be able to use the photosynthesis process (turning water and carbon dioxide into glucose or sugar) for producing food. So, to survive the winter, tree roots, trunks, branches and twigs begin to preserve glucose within themselves and at the same time stop supplying food to their leaves. This gradual stoppage of food makes leaves change colour and fall off to the ground.

Deciduous trees are the ones that shed off their leaves in the autumn. These trees are oaks, hickories, maples, birches, beeches, chestnuts, cottonwoods, dogwoods, cherries, and some others.

Now let's enjoy the autumn colours in and around Toronto.

All photos (September-October, 2010) © Jerome D'Costa


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