By Andrew Berry
Pictured above: sugar maple – Acer saccharumlo (location: just past front entrance kiosk to right as you are headed into Bernheim)
Color will begin to increase quickly after the expected frost this week. Interior forests are still largely green, while lowlands and edges are well into change (the Sugar Maple above is on the forest edge). Forest Hill Drive is a great drive to notice the changes as you go from the lowlands to the upper knobs.
Our natural areas team expects peak color to occur sometime in the next two weeks. Claude Stephens, Facilitator of Outreach and Regenerative Design, who photographed the sugar maple and tracks much of our phenology data, believes the peak will be October 23-November 2, with color at a 7 on a scale of 10.
Be sure to follow us on social media (we’re @bernheimforest) for great photos of the changing colors of the season.