As summer wanes, Chester County residents look forward to the autumnal drop in temperature as much as the magnificent arboreal plumage. We may change our commuter route for longer, more scenic lanes on which to better admire the polychromatic brilliance of our forested areas and open spaces. There can be little doubt this is one of the best seasons to be in Pennsylvania.
And now there’s a fun new tool to help us figure the perfect time of the season for a scenic family drive. It’s something of a foliage calculator, developed by the Smoky Mountains National Park service.
Click the image to head straight to the tool. There you can use the slider to adjust the date and the map will update accordingly, displaying the different foliage ratings: no chance, peak, near peak, etc. According to their estimation, the best time for us to seek out Fall’s color is sometime near the end of October. There’s also some useful information reminding us why leaves change and fall:
“In order to cope with the grueling winter temperatures, trees slowly close off the veins that carry water and nutrients to and from the leaves with a layer of new cells that form at the base of the leaf stem, protecting the limbs and body of the tree. Once the process of new cell creation is complete, water and nutrients no longer flow to and fro from the leaf – this enable the leaf to die and weaken at the stem, eventually falling gracefully to the ground.”
So, in case you’re feeling wistful about our hemisphere’s slow movement toward winter here’s a funny Robert Frost poem about how much he hated raking leaves.
- Gathering Leaves Poem
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who’s to say where
The harvest shall stop?
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