Some Fall Colours In Toronto

Fall has arrived (did you set your clock back last night?), and with it comes an explosion of colour as our deciduous trees shed their leaves for the coming winter.

In downtown Toronto, there aren't too many places where you can get the most spectacular colours; for that, you need to go to the Rouge Valley, or right out of town altogether. As time goes by so quickly these days, it seems like there are only a few days of colourful leaves in the city, then whoomph! they're all on the ground.
Nevertheless, there are some amazing shows to be had south of Bloor St., if you slow down and look closely. There don't have to be blazing oranges or reds in order to catch your eye.

Let me show you what I mean:

First, looking south from the Prince Edward Viaduct over Rosedale Valley Road, there are some nice varieties of colour, from green to a deep orange:

Pix taken with smartphone, but colours came out quite nicely!

And farther along in the same valley, more colours. I was particularly taken with the leaves at right just nicely turning from green to yellow, and the reddish-pink of the ones in the centre:

Right near Castle Frank subway station is this brilliantly yellow maple tree...

And, even though I was essentially shooting blind through the "Luminous Veil" over the Don Valley, I still got a good shot of some great orange/rust/red colours along Bayview Ave., south of Bloor:

Finally, in Withrow Park, a couple of more maples going from yellow to orange:

You can see how quickly the leaves are falling here, so, yes, there is just a small window of time available to see these things, and to get a few snaps.


Like I said, Algonquin Park it ain't, but if you "go placidly amid the noise and haste," and just simply stop and take a look around, you will often see beautiful things right in front of you.