July - September, 2011
Fall Colors
Trying to predict the peak of fall color is difficult. Missouri is blessed with a great variety of trees, shrubs and vines. Their leaves turn at different times and, as a result, Missourians enjoy a fall color season that may last four to six weeks. Sassafras, sumac and Virginia creeper are some of the earliest to change. They begin to show their fall colors by mid-September. By late September, blackgum, bittersweet and dogwood are changing.
The peak of fall color in Missouri is usually mid-October. This is when maples, ashes, oaks and hickories are at the height of their fall display. Normally by late October, the colors have faded and the leaves are beginning to drop.
This progression of color change starts earliest in north Missouri and across the state to the Bootheel. Generally, the color change is predictable but can vary from year to year. Much depends on the weather.
The Missouri Division of Tourism's online calendar (http://www.visitmo.com/) is packed with events happening all across Missouri this fall.