Maryville dons a coat of orange and garnet for the Homecoming weekend change in season.
Fall colors wrap around the campus maple trees, including the sugar maple, red maple, and black maple. As a prolific tree on campus, the maples stand out as some of the most gorgeous during this season. Professor of Biology Dr. Drew Crain spoke on the foliage students might see in Maryville.
“Different trees show color at different times. For instance, the maples are some of the earliest to turn, and those are the ones in full color on campus at the end of October. Others, like poplars will turn in the next week or so,” he said, adding that the poplars are a personal favorite of his.
“I love the yellow of tulip poplar trees. When you have a stand of poplars, like we have around Duncan Branch in the college woods, the canopy becomes golden yellow, and the forest seems otherworldly to me.”
The sunlight catches a red maple on Anderson lawn, filtering down in orange and red hues (Photo courtesy of Maddux Morse).The closeup leaves of a red maple show a vibrant garnet in the few weeks before they drop to the ground (Photo courtesy of Maddux Morse).A black maple near the Crawford House turns yellow, offering a beautiful contrast from most of the foliage seen on campus (Photo courtesy of Maddux Morse).A red maple loses leaves from its top branches first, creating a skirt of color that surrounds its trunk (Photo courtesy of Maddux Morse).A deep purple spreads over the leaves of this red maple near the Willard House (Photo courtesy of Maddux Morse).Standing tall and proud, this old black maple shows a gradient of colors, ranging from greens, to yellows and oranges (Photo courtesy of Maddux Morse).A young red maple showcases a beautiful red color; halfway illuminated by the sun, but shaded by surrounding trees (Photo courtesy of Maddux Morse).A sugar maple fades from light green on the inner-leaves, to vibrant orange and yellow as it reaches towards the sun (Photo courtesy of Maddux Morse).The leaves of a red maple hang lightly from the branches–a strong breeze will send them cascading down (Photo courtesy of Maddux Morse).
