All it takes is shorter days and a few cold nights for deciduous trees to change.
The colder the night, the brighter the leaves. Wanderings of a Post Modern Pilgrim puts heart into his observations.

But the one thing that I think of every single fall is that when faced with death- their own death and the death of everything around them- the leaves show their true colors. I learned this scientifically years ago. The actual color of the leaves is what we see in the fall after the leaves have stopped producing their chlorophyll. That green has been a covering, a mask- although a useful and essential mask. The green represented the life-giving forces in and around the leaves. The green showed that they were producing oxygen and providing for the growth of the tree.

Now their work is accomplished. Well done, good and faithful leaves. You have done as you were called and appointed to do. Take a moment before the end to relax. Stop the chlorophyll production. You have nothing left to do. Enjoy the last moments in the golden autumn sun.

Relax they do- and the true colors hidden beneath the green shine forth. No, often they burst forth. A maple in our backyard, one of the last to turn, will look like captured sunshine well into October. It is a show-off among the trees. Look at me, see me- I am a creation of the Creator who has given me beauty- wonderful beauty- even in death.