When it's fall, leaf colors change from green to vibrant shades of red, orange, and yellow. But why does that happen?
Paul James, a gardener from Tulsa, Oklahoma known as "The Gardener Guy," and the former host of "Gardening by the Yard" on HGTV explains what happens when the amount of sunlight decreases and temperatures change. He also discusses the variation in fall foliage in different tree species and where you can see some of the best color.
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About the Across the Sky podcast
The weekly weather podcast is hosted on a rotation by the Lee Weather team:
Matt Holiner of Lee Enterprises' Midwest group in Chicago, Kirsten Lang of the Tulsa World in Oklahoma, Joe Martucci of the Press of Atlantic City, N.J., and Sean Sublette of the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia.
Episode transcript
Note: The following transcript was created by Headliner and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:
Kirsten Lang: Welcome to the across the sky podcast, a weather, climate, and science focused podcast for a general audience. We are so glad that you're here with us today. I'm Meteorologist Kirsten Lang, and I'm joined by my fellow colleagues Matt Holiner in Chicago, Sean Sublette in Richmond, and Joe Martucci in Atlantic City. And together we make up the Across the Sky weather team from Lee Enterprises. Lee is a publication company with over 70 properties in cities across the United States. We're talking today with Paul James about fall foliage and those changing colors. And the interview with him is great. I love listening to what he has to say about that. He’s very knowledgeable in the entire subject.
Matt Holiner: Well, I brought it up in our top Ten Things to know about Fall episode. One of the reasons I like fall so much is because of the fall foliage, which was disappointing growing up in San Antonio. But once I left San Antonio and moved to places like Richmond, Virginia and Cincinnati, Ohio, and now that I'm in Chicago, oh, man, just some beautiful color. And I've been up in the Northeast in October and seen the beautiful fall color there. So if you live in a place that doesn't have good fall color, make it a trip sometime to go to some place that does, because it is one of the joys of fall, for sure. So it was good to chat with Paul all about it.
Joe Martucci: And as Paul said, come to New Jersey for fall foliage. And we'll hear about that, in the pod.
Sean Sublette: Yes, this pod apparently was brought to you by the state of New Jersey, New Jersey, and you perfect together. Just ask. I like hey, I like my colors here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We get those beautiful Fruity Pebbles colors along Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. And we're getting very close to peak here, in the mountains of Virginia. But the other thing I liked about this, about Paul was so many times we're asked as M meteorologists, well, what. Makes for good fall color? And he's. Like, okay, good. I feel a lot better now.
Kirsten Lang: All right. And with that, let's get onto our interview with Paul James.
Kirsten Lang: Well, today we have on Paul James, an American gardener who may be best known as the gardener guy from his long running show on HGTV Gardening by the Yard. He now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, semi-retired, but that's how I got to know him. And he works for Southwood Garden Center, where he continues to educate the public about all things that are related to gardening, flowers, yards, and trees. And that's where we're going to pick up with him today, is the science behind the changing colors and all things fall. So, Paul, welcome on. We are so happy to have you today.
Paul James: Thank you. I'm thrilled to be know we wanted.
Kirsten Lang: To talk a little bit. This is very timely of course, we wanted to talk a little bit about the science behind changing leaves. So I kind of wanted to just jump in with the broad question, as to why it is that a leaf actually changes its color. And why do you see some yellows, and then you see some orange and some red? Why do they all, vary in colors when they change?
Paul James: It all has to do with pigments. They are chemicals that are in
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