Flashes of color hint at fall

Gold in a branch on the sunny side of a tree. Scarlet in a shrub. The first flashes of color mean that fall is coming soon.

Leaf color is a sign that trees are preparing for winter by entering the sleeplike state called dormancy, when they temporarily shut down many of their functions and hunker down until the weather warms up

in spring.

“Dormancy is the big change. The fall color display that we enjoy so much is just a side effect,” said Ed Hedborn, plant records manager and fall color scout at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle.

He tracks the progression of autumn colors, from the early red of sumac in September to the last brown oak leaves in November, in the Arboretum’s Fall Color Reports ( mortonarb.org/fall-color-report ).

The timing and vividness of trees’ color varies from year t