Peak Fall Color is dependent on temperature, moisture, wind, and weather. We may have passed the peak this past weekend, but if you look closely, you can still see a great show from some of the later arrivals like oaks, though maybe not a vibrant as the bright oranges and reds of the Sugar Maples, they are still very beautiful. Keep your eyes open!!
Last week, Ann Chanon and Erik Draper from OSU Extension posted a fantastic article on fall color with beautiful photographs:
Gorgeous Fall Leaf Colors Dominate NE Ohio Views
https://bygl.osu.edu/index.php/node/2069
My daughter took a trip to Cuyahoga Valley National Park on Sunday, October 23rd, and captured some fantastic pictures of mixed hardwoods, Brandywine Falls and river, canopy, rock formations, and vistas.
As a lifelong resident of Northeast Ohio, I was lamenting the loss of my beloved sugar maples.
Most of our wood lines are a combination of cottonwoods, silver maple, hackberry, gray dogwood, mulberry, and eastern red cedar. Most of the fall colors range from green to yellow to brown to burgundy.
I only needed to travel less than a mile to find a great combination of all the colors I desired. I found Sugar Maples, Seven Sun Flower, Japanese Maple, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Kousa Dogwood, Sweetgum, Cottonwood, Ginkgo, Climbing Hydrangea, Crimson King Norway Maple, Perrotia, Sugar Maples in a distance on Kelleys Island with perch fishermen in the for ground, Red Maple, Hackberry, more Japanese Maple and White Oak.
I even found a nice burgundy color on Flowering Pear, even though it will be illegal to sell these as of January 1, 2023.
https://agri.ohio.gov/divisions/plant-health/invasive-pests/invasive-plants
So, my simple message for you is there is still fall color to enjoy.
17 Gorgeous Ohio Destinations to Admire Fall Foliage This Season
Remember, there is still time to enjoy the oaks! Chinquapin Oak, White Oak, and Swamp White Oak to name a few.
You may have to travel a little and walk but get out and enjoy before the snow flies!!