Its colors
golden yellow, bronze, light tan
no picture of it this autumn yet
When it turns here
first color about Oct 1, 2026, at its best Oct 17, 2026, fading by Oct 20, 2026, bare by Oct 24, 2026 (estimate).
this year, by the model, the forest here peaks about Oct 7, 2026.
Model of Oct 27, 2026.
How long it holds
Long: many leaves, especially on young trees, stay on the branches after they brown, often until spring.
Where it grows thickest
The northern hardwood forest with sugar maple and yellow birch; in Vermont it is the most numerous sapling, and in the Adirondacks, where deer pass it over, it fills the understory.
northern hardwoods, low in the north
its range outline comes to this page
By height
Low elevations in the north: held below about 980 m (3,200 ft) in the Adirondacks by cold and wind.
From the road
Smooth gray bark even on the biggest trunks, often in thickets of root suckers, gold and bronze in October, then pale tan leaves hanging on in a bare November woods.
Its pictures this autumn
The sources’ own words
Oaks turn red, brown, or russet; hickories show golden bronze; aspen and yellow-poplar, golden yellow; dogwood, purplish red; beech, light tan; and sourwood and black tupelo, crimson.
American beech (brownish-bronze)
Its alternate coarsely toothed leaves turn yellow in mid-October and many are retained especially on smaller trees, even after they turn brown.
Tannin pigments contribute to the subdued browns of oaks and help enrich the yellows of beeches.
Colours usually peak around Thanksgiving weekend but stay surprisingly strong throughout October due to the golden glow of the American Beech trees.
Red oaks, white oaks, chestnut oaks, yellow poplars, and beeches peak around October 20-30.
We often observe this occurrence with members of the fagaceae (beech family), including American beech (Fagus americana) and some oaks (Quercus spp.).
In the Adirondacks of New York, low temperatures and wind keep beech below 980 m (3,200 ft), in contrast to the southern mountains where on the warmer slopes it grows at elevations up to 1830 m (6,000 ft).
In the central Adirondacks, however, continual browsing of sugar maple allows American beech, which the deer avoid, to dominate northern hardwood understories (54).
The bark is smooth, thin, and gray in color even on the largest stems. Beech bark diseases severely deforms the smooth bark.