Hi, we would like to come and see the fall colors. When is the best time to come this fall?
Hello Valorie,
Thank you for your question to Ask an Islander.
The fall foliage sneaks up and starts to appear now. A few trees are slowly starting to hints at their rust and gold colours. I find some fall seasons it feels like it has been around for some time, but the brightest peak time is really only a week or two long. It can be difficult to plan for, weather and previous weather events can have the leaves on the ground all too soon.
Just today, I was driving on Hwy 1 West, between Charlottetown and Borden, the trees were peaking some reds and oranges in a very few places. I was shocked at how many Eastern Larch appear to have survived Hurricane Fiona, only to die off this year. Maybe the stress of the hurricane and the dry summer we had. I know many will reappear. Truly, they still leave a lovely contrast with the other trees around.
The American and Showy Mountain Ash are lovely at the moment with their clusters of berries. They are just starting to turn from the bright red to their fall orange colour. They will be beautiful to see in a few more weeks. I love seeing the berries still hanging on through the winter.
The end of September and October are the months to focus on. The colours tend to be fantastic around the second week of October and start to fall heavily by the last week of the month. It highly depends on the year.
The Sugar, Striped and Red Maples should show some lovely range of colours.
A selection of better places to see the colours is driving our Scenic Heritage Roads. If you time it right, you’ll travel these narrow dirt roads under a canopy of orange, greens, reds and yellows.
Visiting small villages like Murray River/Murray Harbour, Montague and Georgetown in the east for that burst of colour. Heading west visiting Tignish, Alberton and Tyne Valley will get you some lovely clusters of trees. Of course, in the Central part of the Island, Fort Amherst, Bonshaw Hills Park and Victoria by the Sea for the red, orange and gold!
Don't forget to check out the Charlottetown Scarecrow Festival in the month of October.
Enjoy!
Erin Davis
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