Fall Foliage Tracker

Join us as fall color, the harbinger of cold weather, sweeps across NYBG! The rich red hues of sweetgums, golden glimmer of ginkgoes, and cheerful oranges of maples can be found across the entire 250 acres of the Garden, but are best featured in the Thain Family Forest, Steinhardt Maple Collection, Native Plant Garden, Rock Garden, and Maureen K. Chilton Azalea Garden.

Fall color varies quite a bit from year to year, and is largely controlled by available water from precipitation and changes in temperature. The Northeast is lucky enough to have a beautiful display of autumn foliage every year, but the absolute best color comes from warm, sunny days followed by cool nights.

The familiar hues of autumn occur in deciduous trees as chemical signals tell them to prepare for winter. The trees transport all of their sugars and other resources from the leaves to storage in the roots. As the green chlorophyll breaks down, it reveals the yellow and orange pigments present in those leaves. In addition, some trees will also start to make pigments, called anthocyanins, for protection from UV radiation during the last little period of photosynthesis. These are what give leaves their red—or even purple—colors.