Autumn is the perfect time to enjoy the District's outdoor treasures and catch a glimpse of natures splendor seen by our Nation's Founding Fathers. George Washington and Pierre L'Enfant masterful design strategy provides breathtaking open public landscape painted with a mosaic of warm toned shades of orange and gold to purple and scarlet. Autumn's crisp chill and diminishing length of daylight induce trees to shed their green leaves. Temperature, sunlight, and soil moisture greatly influence the quality of the fall foliage display.

Before leaves fall in the autumn they pass key nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, back into the main body of the tree or plant. Species with brighter autumn leaves appear to retain more nutrients than duller-coloured ones. Two pigments play a vital role in this process: Anthocyanins and Carotenoids. Anthocyanins are water-soluble red, rarely blue, pigments found in both the young and old leaves of many plants, while Carotenoids are highly unsaturated fat-soluble yellow-red pigments produced by plants and fungi.

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