Once again, nature is poised to showcase a spectacular display of autumn foliage throughout deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere, including those in the Tri-State. From sugar maples ablaze in brilliant red to oaks adorned in more muted brown tones, local residents should be in for quite a treat. To answer that, it is important to understand what leaves are and what they do.
Leaves are nature s food factories.
Plants take water from the ground through their roots and take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. They use sunlight to turn the water and carbon dioxide into glucose. Glucose is a kind of sugar. Plants use glucose as food for energy and as a building block for growing. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar is called photosynthesis.