Why are the fall colors in America more intense than in most europeen countries, i.e. Germany?

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I live in Germany but used to visit the US frequently. The fall colors in the US always impressed me. I mean, obviously we have fall colors in Germany too. But they don’t compare, they seem more faded.

Edit: Talking about the trees! Didn’t specify, sorry!

In: Biology

14 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The US has 2 brilliant fall trees not native to Europe: the sugar maple ( *Acer saccharum)* and the black gum (*Nyssa Sylvatica)* that provide gorgeous colors of red and orange that make New England so famous. The red maple (*Acer Rubrum*) also provides brilliant reds to the landscape.

The Norway maple (*Acer platanoides)* turns a lovely amber, but is not as bright. Oak trees with a few exceptions turn brown and are not as attractive. In the European cities, the London planetree (*Platanus x acerifolia)* dominates. Its leaves turn brown and papery in the fall.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I think it’s climate. New England and eastern Canada (where I live) have a Continental climate with a very pronounced summer and winter. As a side effect autumn is compressed and all the trees change at the same time. Right now it’s amazing, but in a few weeks it will be over. When I lived in the UK individual trees looked great but the colour change was spread out from September to Christmas so you never had all the trees in colour at the same time.

Anonymous 0 Comments

In Finland we have amazing fall colors on our trees so this is not North America thing only. [Here’s a finnish website which has some beautiful pictures of Finland in autumn](https://www.karjalainen.fi/uutiset/uutis-alueet/maakunta/item/117658)

Anonymous 0 Comments

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