ST. LOUIS – As we approach the last few days of September, this is the typical timeframe we start to see the leaves beginning to change color.
”Now is the time things start to get rolling. We’re not quite there yet, but the cooler temperatures at night is what really triggers the change to happen. The changing of day length as the days get shorter, that also triggers the changing of the leaf color,” Justine Kandra, horticulturist at Missouri Botanical Garden, said.
But with the stress of the drought this summer and heavy rains over the last 48 hours, that can have a great impact on how soon we see the leaves change or how late.
“We had a significant drought going on here in the St. Louis area, and that can definitely impact our trees. It stresses them out, and it can cause them to turn colors prematurely or drop their leaves all together,” Kandra added.
While the rain was a lot in a two-day period, it’s beneficial considering the lack of rain we’ve had for the month of September.
This rain is what we need at the start of autumn, too much rain and too much wind further in the fall months can knock leaves down prematurely or mute the deep hues of oranges and reds of fall foliage.
“This rain, even though it fell over a relatively short amount of time, it was very beneficial, and they’ll be able to take up that moisture pretty fast, actually. So that should help them retain their leaves for longer and help to hopefully get a better fall color situation going once we do get further into fall,” Kandra said.
The peak fall colors are expected in mid-to-late October, with the exception of downtown St. Louis. The city’s warmer temperatures delay the peak until early November.