Autumn is perhaps the ideal time to be in New York. It’s not only a reprieve from sweltering summer weather — and a moment of mercy before the chill of winter takes hold — but for nature lovers, it’s the annual opportunity to see the trees across the state burst into colour. Such is their delight that the term “leaf peeping” has been coined to describe the activity of travelling to view and photograph autumn foliage.
This week, New York is due to reach prime leaf-peeping time, with native trees and other planted varieties starting to turn and expected to fully colour in the coming days and weeks.
“We had three months of drought this summer so I was expecting no fall colour, but we started to get rain, and then had beautiful sunshine and cool nights, which is sort of the recipe,” says Katherine Kerin, a landscape curator at Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, a village less than two hours’ drive from New York City. “It’s really shaping up to be beautiful. It started slowly and very golden, so we’re just beginning to see more oranges and reds.”