Peak fall colors can now be seen in Wisconsin and Minnesota as well as northern Iowa. In the next few weeks you should be able to see peak fall colors in eastern Iowa. There are some really great fall displays out there, depending on where you live. Trees in eastern Iowa started turning colors a few weeks ago when we got our first hard frost of the season. With our next hard frost only a few days a way, you can almost count on the peak fall colors being in full force in the near future.
Peak fall colors from select trees.
Skyline Honey Locus- This tree presents beautiful golden fall color when the temperatures drop. This tree was one of the first trees to turn colors in eastern Iowa.
Autumn Blaze Maple- This hybrid tree species displays vibrant orange to fiery red color in the fall. The tree usually turns color in early or mid fall.
Sugar Maple- This is another great maple species that presents yellows, oranges and reds.
Ginkgo- This tree displays vibrant yellow fall color.
Since we experienced an extreme drought this summer, some of the tree displays are not as good as they could be. Some trees that were hit by the extreme drought lost some of their foliage during the summer. There were a lot of trees that had damaged foliage as a result of the lack of moisture. Leaves on drought stressed trees started dying and turning brown. Most of the die out on the leaves started on the edges or tips of the leaves and worked its way into the center of the leaf. If you closely inspect the drought stressed trees this fall, you may notice that the colors are not as vibrant as they usually are. Even with the extreme drought, there are still a lot of great looking trees out there this fall.