hey down here in adrian MI .... we had 10 weeks of drought.. with ridiculous heat all thru the nights ... what was you weather this summer .... how was it different from other years .... and are we dealing with recent transplants or fully established tree???? and what might have been different with these trees this year ??? .. like you quit watering the lawn ... etc ... as far as i am concerned.. fall color is variable year to year .... and many in the tree forum agree ... ken ps: my cleveland select also has all its leaves.. whereas many other trees shed them early, prior to color change ... and it is waiting for that first hard frost.. when every leaf will fall off as the sun starts warming them after that freeze ... probably within an hour...whoomph ....

A Reading from the Book of Armaments, Chapter 4, Verses 16 to 20: Then did he raise on high the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, saying, "Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and breakfast cereals ... Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it." Here is a link that might be useful: Click me!

Killing temperatures of immature roots are pretty high, even with northern hardy nursery items like Japanese maples. If you lose the immature roots it may not show in the top, except perhaps for slower top growth until the lost roots are replaced. I encounter lots of potted stock that has partly dead roots, in addition to damage from careless or ineffective wintering over there is also the problem of roots cooking in small pots during summer (this latter problem is why stock in small containers with roots good on one side and dead on the other is so prevalent; the frequency of nursery plants infected with water molds will also account for partly dead or small roots systems on many specimens).

Interesting that the order if very different than it was in Maine in the Mt Washington Valley. There, the brilliant reds were first, then the oranges, and the last were the brilliant yellows. I think I might have loved them the best as they were always against a slate gray winter sky and SO welcome with everything being browns and grays. Right now, it prime "Leaf Peeper" season, it would be the various shades of oranges.