Springlakes
Community Martinez, GA 30907
Springlakes is situated in a beautiful natural setting.
Reed Creek flows through the center of our subdivision and creates the lake that everyone admires. Springlakes is also home to many creatures of the animal kingdom. When in the beautiful community you may see numerous ducks, geese and beavers on occasion. You may also see possums, raccoons, numerous song birds and butterflies living here.
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Fragrant and colorful flowers are everywhere throughout the community and in recognition of this Bounty, your Board of Directors has elected to keep an eye on the Natural World as it is the desire to protect and if necessary help control it.
Your community Naturalist filling this role is Ralph Kolbeck.
If you have some information you would like shared,
please click HERE to email Ralph.
Why do Leaves Change Color in the Fall?
The residents of Springlakes turn out each fall to witness a spectacular color show of nature. Why do our leaves turn color? Actually the “show” is the result of a number of factors. The most important triggering mechanism by far, is the length of our “day light”. Other factors also play a role in the vividness of the color change. These include temperature, the amount of rainfall and the species of plant. Remembering our high school Biology classes, we know that the fall colors are hidden within the leaves all summer long. The intense green color of chlorophyl actually hides the reds, oranges, and yellows we see each fall. So when we ask the question about why leaves change color in the fall, it is because the chlorophyll is no longer produced. The paragraphs below describe, briefly, why the chlorophyll in the leaves disappears.
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Length-of-day. The amount of day light is the main factor which triggers the color changes we see in the leaves. The amount of daylight relates to the timing of the autumnal equinox, when day and night are roughly equal, but nights begin to grow longer. As the autumn days become shorter, the reduced light starts chemical changes in deciduous plants causing the chlorophyll production to stop. Further, a corky wall of cells forms between the twig and the leaf stalk. This corky wall eventually causes the leaf to drop off in the breeze.
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Weather. Weather is another factor which can influence the vividness of the color change. In general, a wet growing season followed by an autumn with lots of sunny days, dry weather, and cold, frostless nights will produce the most vibrant palette of fall colors. This vividness is especially true of red leaves, such as those on sugar maples and red maple trees.
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Temperature. Of course, if freezing temperatures and a hard frost hit, it can kill the chemical processes within the leaf and lead to poor fall color.
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Moisture. Drought conditions during late summer and early fall can trigger an early “shutdown” of trees as they prepare for winter, causing leaves to fall early from trees without reaching their full color potential.
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Species of plant. Not all leaves turn vivid colors in the fall. Only a few of our many species of deciduous trees—notably maple, aspen, birch, oak, and gum—produce truly stellar performances for our annual autumn spectacular in North America. Springlakes has its own unique show of colors perhaps dominated by the vivid yellows of the Yellow Popular and Hickory, and the reds of our Dogwoods and English Maples.
(Ralph Kolbeck)
