
What Makes Fall Foliage Colors So Bright?

Fall Flowers and Foliage
Fall Vegetable Gardening
Fall Garden Cleanup
Garden Soil Preparation
Fall Nature
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This is another color article by OFA. Great article but being color deficient Red -Green I don’t see the colors herein described. The deficiency is handed down to the males from the mother especially if color deficiency runs in the family, my family is loaded with it, escaped one brother. There are some females that are color deficient as I’ve learned. The rods and cones in the eye dictate.
I live within my world and don’t miss a thing. I see yellows and blues. The blues emitting from ice glaciers are beautiful. The reason being all the wave lengths of visible light enter the glacier / iceberg, but only the blue wave length escapes to be seen. If red light wave escaped, it’d probably be black color. Color is better seen if closer to the source (like traffic lights) . Believe that the intensity of light increases or decreases by the square of the distance, coming or going away from the source, remembering my college physics book from 40 years ago.
Knowing what colors a tree has is by knowing the tree as in the tabled herein. Ash or Sumac is not mentioned, I see Ash as dull yellow and dark red, could be burnt yellow and dead; Sumac is brilliant Red as I perceive. Rainbows are yellow and blue.
There are millions of color deficient people in the US. Recently colored glasses were available to allow color deficient see “normal”. It was a color transformation, WOW regarding sunsets, brilliant green road signs all for $300 +++. Not for me. So there are some corrective means.
Pity the people on a South Pacific island all just black & white vision due to inbreeding. You’d be surprised what I’ve done in the Air Force inspecting colored wiring and running jet engines with dials being colored coded for limitations. I knew what I was doing and adapted.
Fall foliage is beautiful, the yellows and golds and maybe reds. For me the best part of Autumn and the colored leaves is the smell of the season change and the purity of it. Don’t need color detection for that.
Be interesting if OFA would investigate this human endeavor for an article so all will know what it’s like. Very simple. Also include color charts that signifies good color vision and charts that if seen determine color deficiency. I felt good seeing the numbers, until the doc said I was color blind. The Military and other law enforcement agencies use the means to determine a color problem prior to enlistment. I missed out on a lot of high regarded systems work. and careers. And many funny stories. and incidences.
Waxed Autumn Leaves: put wax in a double-boiler; heat until melted; dip leaves in wax one at a time; dry; use to decorate hallways; etc.
To preserve Autumn leaves for window decorations; put the leaves in 2 pieces of wax paper in a heavy book; leave for a few weeks; the color of the leaves will last awhile: then scotch tape to windows; doors;
Our leaves are still mainly green. There are a few tinges of color and a few early overachievers, but we are still quite summery. I think our leaves will be later than usual this year. Our peak is generally mid-Oct.
I'm planning a fall wedding in Ohio. Right now we are thinking October 12th of 2019, do you think we will have any fall foliage at that point? Do you know when the 2019 Fall Foliage guide will be posted?
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