Fall Color in the Alps in September?
Aug 18th, 2011, 01:44 PM
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Fall Color in the Alps in September?
We live in Texas so we miss the fall leaves changing colors that people up north enjoy. I was just wondering if we will see any fall colors in mid to late September in the Salzburg area?
Aug 18th, 2011, 10:36 PM
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This autumn colour obsession is almost entirely limited to North America.
What few trees there are in the Alps (they're MOUNTAINS, remember) are mainly coniferous, and therefore don't change colour anyway. At lower hilly altitudes, the big seasonal thing is springtime wild flowers in most of Continental Europe - as it's springtime cherry blossom in Japan, and the late winter/early spring snowflower/daffodil/tulip/bluebell sequence in managed British countryside.
European autumnal foliage spreads its colour change over a much wider colour spectrum than in North America, takes a great deal longer (but is generally later)and is far less predictable. Outside a few arboreta, there's no concentrated burst of one colour - and leaf peeping just isn't an event.
What few trees there are in the Alps (they're MOUNTAINS, remember) are mainly coniferous, and therefore don't change colour anyway. At lower hilly altitudes, the big seasonal thing is springtime wild flowers in most of Continental Europe - as it's springtime cherry blossom in Japan, and the late winter/early spring snowflower/daffodil/tulip/bluebell sequence in managed British countryside.
European autumnal foliage spreads its colour change over a much wider colour spectrum than in North America, takes a great deal longer (but is generally later)and is far less predictable. Outside a few arboreta, there's no concentrated burst of one colour - and leaf peeping just isn't an event.
Aug 19th, 2011, 08:36 AM
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> What few trees there are in the Alps (they're MOUNTAINS, remember) are mainly coniferous, and therefore don't change colour anyway.
Totally wrong. A high percentage of trees in certain areas at higher elevation in the Alps (e.g. Engadin) are larches - they change the colours wonderfully to yellow/gold. The contrast with the blue sky and white glaciers/snow is amazing.
Just an example.
Totally wrong. A high percentage of trees in certain areas at higher elevation in the Alps (e.g. Engadin) are larches - they change the colours wonderfully to yellow/gold. The contrast with the blue sky and white glaciers/snow is amazing.
Just an example.
Aug 19th, 2011, 12:14 PM
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The colors are truly amazing, as you can see from this photo my husband took around Hallstatt, Austria, the end of last October. September is really too early for fall colors IMO.
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/202...11574650igHwXc
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/202...11574650igHwXc
