Vinton County is home to a host of tree species that give us a beautiful canvas of colors each fall. Our county is home to deciduous, coniferous and evergreen families of trees. The deciduous trees provide the beautiful fall canvas. Dropping leaves each fall is the beginning of the tree going dormant for the winter. Dormancy over the winter is a self-preservation tactic and allows the tree to survive and produce leaves again the next spring. There is more to the color change before the fall of the leaves than meets the eye. The process of the color change in leaves begins as the days begin to get shorter. Deciduous trees and many other plants are highly sensitive to the amount of sunlight they receive. The green color that you see on the leaves throughout the summer is due to that abundant sunlight breaking down chlorophyll. When the amount of sunlight we receive in a day decreases, the other pigments start to be expressed. Carotene and xanthophyll are the pigments responsible for the yellow and orange colors. Anthocyanin is responsible for reds and purples. The amount of each pigment is highly variable between species, trees and even leaves. That variability is what gives us the range of colors in our fall canvas. The expression of pigment is also dependent on the moisture levels in a certain season. Anthocyanin is water-soluble so in wet years, there may be reds and purples expressed as opposed to more yellows and oranges in dry years. People travel to south east Ohio just to view the changing of the leaves, we only have to drive down the street or even look out the back yard. Take time to enjoy the beautiful but brief canvas before it is covered in snow!