Orange! Red! Yellow! Leaves change for fall. Where do these colors come from? Let’s find out!
Deanna Curtis is a nature expert. She told News-O-Matic how nature changes colors.
Leaves are green in spring and summer. A called chlorophyll causes that. Chlorophyll is a green pigment. It gathers sunlight. It changes light to energy. This energy helps trees grow. But leaves have other colors. Other pigments are there. The chlorophyll covers them.
“Yellows and oranges are there,” Curtis said. Carotenoids make those colors. Carotenoids are chemicals. The colors show when the chlorophyll leaves. Why does the chlorophyll leave?
Curtis said shorter days make chlorophyll leave. Days get shorter in fall. There is less sunlight. Leaves can’t make food. The chlorophyll starts breaking down. Yellow and orange colors show! The leaves make another pigment. It’s anthocyanin. That makes reds and purples.
Curtis said the colors come from the fall weather. Dry, sunny days make brighter colors. But rainy, warm days will give duller colors.
Then the leaves fall. Another pigment makes them brown. That is called tannin.
“Fall has always been my favorite time,” Curtis said. She said she liked visiting apple orchards as a kid.
You can enjoy nature too. Curtis said you can watch how trees change.
Curtis had another message. She said kids can work outdoors too. She had curiosity first. It grew. Her talent was like fall leaf colors. It was inside her the whole time. You have talent in you too!
By Alexa Tirapelli
Updated September 24, 2025, 5:00 P.M. (ET)
