Check out our list of 7 great places to bring the whole gang leaf peeping to view some of the best Fall foliage in Ocean County over the next month!

The Fall Foliage in Ocean County is about to pop bigtime and you better be ready! Grab your favorite flannel, some sun block, shades, comfy sneaks or hikers, maybe a pair of binoculars, and of course some form of camera!

Ocean County is about midway towards our leaves turning full color, with vibrant shades of red, yellow, orange and brown surrounding the landscape.

Getting out and enjoying the beautiful fall foliage in Ocean County is easy when you know where to go! For many people, they need just look out their window to see an array of amazing changing colors. However, when you travel to a park, or forest area, it becomes even more intense. With dozens, sometimes hundreds trees, ranging from varieties of Maple and Oak, to Dogwood, and Birch. Check out the Best Trees in New Jersey for Fall Color.

Why Leaves Change Color In The Fall

According to the US Forestry Service, the timing of color changes and the onset of falling leaves is primarily regulated by the calendar as nights become longer. None of the other environmental influences – such as temperature, rainfall, food supply – are as unvarying as the steadily increasing length of night during autumn. As days grow shorter, and nights grow longer and cooler, biochemical processes in the leaf begin to paint the landscape with nature’s autumn palette, for our beautiful fall foliage in Ocean County.

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Furthermore, a color palette needs pigments, and there are three types that are involved in autumn color:

• Carotenoids: Produces yellow, orange, and brown colors in such things as corn, carrots, and daffodils, as well as rutabagas, buttercups, and bananas.
• Anthocyanin: Gives color to such familiar things as cranberries, red apples, concord grapes, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and plums. They are water soluble and appear in the watery liquid of leaf cells.
• Chlorophyll: Gives leaves a basic green color. It is necessary for photosynthesis, the chemical reaction that enables plants to use sunlight to manufacture sugars for food.

Trees in the temperate zones store these sugars for the winter dormant period.

Both chlorophyll and carotenoids are present in the chloroplasts of leaf cells throughout the growing season. Most anthocyanins are produced in the autumn, in response to bright light and excess plant sugars within leaf cells.

During the growing season, chlorophyll is continually being produced and broken down and leaves appear green. As night length increases in the autumn, chlorophyll production slows down and then stops and eventually all the chlorophyll is destroyed. The carotenoids and anthocyanin that are present in the leaf are then unmasked and show their colors.

So let’s get you out there to some of the best spots around. Here are 7 great places to view fall foliage in Ocean County!