ctober is a month of change, as summer departs to make way for autumn. Deciduous plants respond to cooler evening temperatures and shortening days by preparing for leaf fall, reducing the green pigment of chlorophyll in their leaves to reveal a blaze of yellow and orange carotenoids and red anthocyanins. I love to see the changing colours both in the garden and wider landscape, and despite the premature leaf drop this year (due to ‘Aconitifolium’ and are my favourites, along with the vibrant ‘Coral Sun’. turns a golden buttery yellow with peachy tones, as does its darker-leaved cultivar ‘Rotfuchs’, both earning the common name candyfloss tree, as the leaves fall with a sweet toffee-apple aroma following a frost.
