Warmer weather points to a yellow autumn

A TRADITIONAL autumn is marked by its deep ruby colours – but this year’s season is more of a golden affair.

Autumn leaves are more yellow than red this year, thanks to the Indian summer, the National Trust has said.

A warm, dry September means leaves are slower to develop their scarlet colour, the charity said, though recent wet weather means hopes are still alive for a traditional crimson autumn, with many areas of the country seeing torrential rain over the first few days of October.

Dryer than average conditions in spring and summer are also causing trees to drop their leaves early, the charity said.

Currently, city streets are marked by the yellow colour of lime trees, but red leaves could soon start to come through.

Pam Smith, the trust’s gardens and parks specialist, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The green colour, the chemical engine in the leaf which is chlorophyll, that starts to fade.

“Underneath, all leaves have orange and yellows in them, and what’s happened is the recent dry weather has caused some of the leaves to fall off early, so we haven’t seen that big reveal.

“We’ve seen a lot of crunchy brown leaves on our pavements and gardens, but we really need the rain, which we’ve had recently, for the reds.

“The red pigment is caused by sugar production and the trees need the water for that. They’re not under stress conditions if they’ve got all the water we’ve had recently, so we’re hoping now that the trees will be building up those sugars. That’s a good storage tool for the trees, it helps them take the food that’s left in the leaves back into the actual tree, so we are hoping for some reds.”