AUTUMNS BEAUTY

Something I wrote for an assignment for my writing class.(keep in mind geared toward kids)

You step outside and see them flutter by. As you walk down the yard you hear the rustling beneath your feet. There’s a crisp chill in the air that makes your nose run. A swift breeze nearly blows your hat right off your head. As you pick up the wooden rake you look up and see the glorious colors surrounding you. There’s a red one there, a yellow one over there, and look, there’s an orange one! 

     As you begin to sweep the rake along the grass you bend over and pick up a handful of the colorful leaves. You wonder when the leaves changed color. It seemed to happen overnight. Then you wonder how did they change color? Why do some trees have colorful leaves while others are green, or even brown? To answer these questions we have to learn what makes a tree grow. 

     The leaves on trees work hard all spring and summer converting water and air into food. The process is called Photosynthesis, which means “putting together with light”. Leaves produce the chemical chlorophyll. In the summer chlorophyll is abundant and makes the leaves appear green. This chemical absorbs the sunlight providing the leaves with energy. This enables them to combine carbon dioxide from the air and water from the trees roots to produce carbohydrates in the form of sugar. The leaves then “throw away” oxygen into the air. 

The sugar is what feeds the tree and helps it grow. Trees will store some of the sugar in preparation for their long winters rest. So just what signals the trees to begin preparing for their hibernation? In autumn the days are shorter, which doesn’t provide the trees with the same amount of sunlight as in the summer. At the same time the temperature is becoming cooler and the ground is getting drier. These three things tell the tree that winter is coming and they begin to prepare.

The leaves stop producing chlorophyll while there is less sunlight for them to absorb. Since chlorophyll provides them

with the energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to make food, when it decreases the leaves stop the photosynthesis process. The tree will then shut off the supply of nutrients from the tree branch to the leafs' stem. As the chlorophyll disappears, a new pigment or color begins to emerge. Those pigments have been hiding beneath the green color caused by the abundance of chlorophyll.

The pigments are caused by several types of chemicals produced by the leaf itself. Not all leaves contain enough of these chemicals to make the change occur and they simply turn brown and fall off. Some trees have red pigments, while others have orange, yellow, or even purple. Evergreens, like Pine or Holly, contain no pigments. That is why they stay green all year round.

Eventually all the other trees lose their leaves either by turning brown, or simply falling off because food no longer reaches the leaf. The tree then lives off of the stored food all winter long. At that time the trees begin to hibernate, or sleep. Evergreens, however, don’t sleep during the winter. They continue to make food although at a much slower rate then in the warmer months.

So, the next time your mom tells you to rake the leaves, maybe you’ll look at them in amazement for all the hard work they do. So get out there and rake up a pile and enjoy the vibrant colors. When someone asks how they change you can now tell them. You can tell them how chemicals in the leaves determine their colors and that in the colder months food supply is limited. Trees live off of stored food and hibernate during the winter much like a bear does.