Another interesting slice of information:
“As many of you know, those colors are actually there all season long but are masked by the green chlorophyll that the plants are using to make food. Once the trees start shutting down for the season, the chlorophyll is cut off and the masked colors get their moment center stage. But did you know that the red colored leaves of the Japanese maples and burning bush shrubs require one more step? For them, the sunlight interacts with chemicals in the leaves to transform the anthocyanin to make the brilliant reds.”

—by David Streit, Capital Weather Gang, as seen on Facebook.

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