It seemed like we waited longer this year for the fall colors, didn’t it? And what we’ve seen while riding around on our bikes hasn’t quite been the show we’ve gotten in past years.
Apparently, muted fall colors have been happening elsewhere in the northern part of the country. The New York Times reported in mid-October that leaves in New England changed color faster, then fell faster than usual, due to drought conditions. One Reddit discussion from that area echoed the disappointment. The Weather Channel made a short video labeled “Fall Foliage Flop?” Residents in Michigan were lamenting the lack of fall colors in early October, the Detroit Free Press reported.
But a senior scientist at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle told ABC 7 Chicago on Oct. 23 that the cooler weather was finally helping leaves change color around here, and that late October and early November is really the normal peak color time for us. The “Fall Color Report” on Morton’s website is bearing that out.
Anecdotal research from my own rides and others posting on social media shows that the colors are muted and dingier in our forest preserves — you have to look harder for the bright colors — while brighter trees and the burning bushes could be found by just riding around our neighborhoods.
It started with yellows
Late September warmth and sun made yellow sunflowers and other prairie life shine.
Late September was the goldenrods’ time in the Paul Douglas forest preserve near Hoffman Estates.Sunflowers brought a lot of cheer to the path through the Harper College campus in Palatine, especially along its Craig Stettner Prairie, in late September.Paul Douglas riders got a special prairie show in late September.Some colorful prairie plants were hiding by the bike-ped bridge to the Paul Douglas trail just off Roselle Road near Schaumburg.
Late October: Trees’ first colors emerge
Not until October did trees start to reveal their colors. In the forest preserves, it was only isolated younger trees. Suburban neighborhoods with newer trees put on some shows later in the month.
This tree is always the first to dramatically change, to its flaming red, each fall in the Busse Woods preserve between Schaumburg and Elk Grove Village. But it and its neighbor started dropping leaves by Oct. 20 before hitting full red.This young bright red stood out among faded yellows, greens and browns Oct. 27 on the Busse Woods trail along Higgins Road.The Paul Douglas preserve near north Hoffman Estates and south Palatine showed an occasional bright orange around lingering dingy greens and browns on Oct. 26.My personal winner in October: The trees lining Lexington Road in South Barrington on Oct. 24.
As November arrives, simply reds
This bush burned in west Hoffman Estates.
As November arrived, I saw more changes. But it was really the reds that emerged.
They came mostly with younger trees again, or even bushes, while bigger trees and broader prairies were browning.
Sometimes, bright red-orange trees stood among the greenery that kept on going, such as on Exchange Boulevard in Glendale Heights, in the picture at the top of this article.
The reds emerged from young trees lining the Medinah Country Club and Medinah Road on Nov. 2.This was one of a few lines of bushes turning bright red in early November along Smith Road west of Klein Road in West Chicago.A bright red paired with a flaming orange in this Carol Stream neighborhood, on Buckskin Lane, on Nov. 2.Trees in various states of colorizing line Delaney Drive on Nov. 5 in west Hoffman Estates.That unfortunately is a plane in the sky, not a comet.
From deeper in the woods
Forest preserve riders, especially Des Plaines River Trail cyclists, provided snapshots of color from deeper in the woods. But bigger trees were showing off in neighborhoods, too.
Richard Susanto caught these colors on the Des Plaines River Trail. Click on the image for closer looks.
Andrzej Nowakowski found himself in the right place at the right time: off the Des Plaines River Trail in Robinson Woods South near O’Hare on Nov. 3.Again, click on the image for a closer look.
Richard Susanto offered an encore of views once November arrived. Click for closer looks.
My view of the Carl Hansen Woods prairie from the Poplar Creek Trail parallel to Route 59, between Golf and Shoe Factory roads in the Hoffman Estates area, showed a range of tree colors on Nov. 5.The distant woods view in the Carl Hansen preserve showed more muted, mostly brown colors.Jeffrey Redor found the yellows on the Des Plaines River Trail.
Lake County’s forest preserves were starting to show their colors in the first week of November, as this Bill Oakes photo demonstrates at Independence Grove.
Jamey Bowden caught these colors right in Schaumburg neighborhoods.Click for closer looks.
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Thank you for the note! I wonder what people would say. I think it was a little different this year. Maybe it didn’t come later than usual, but it did seem like we had to look for it a little more — the colors weren’t in the obvious places like the forest tree line, and you had to go deep into the forest. But it did seem like the colors popped exceptionally in our neighborhoods!
Loved all the color. Thanks for sharing!
What a feast for the eyes! I’m sure many would agree this has been one of the loveliest fall color seasons in the Chicago area in a long time.
Thank you for the note! I wonder what people would say. I think it was a little different this year. Maybe it didn’t come later than usual, but it did seem like we had to look for it a little more — the colors weren’t in the obvious places like the forest tree line, and you had to go deep into the forest. But it did seem like the colors popped exceptionally in our neighborhoods!