ISLAMABAD: The season of flowers, spring has always been celebrated in most cultures. However, Islamabad is perhaps the only urban settlement in the country in which spring can truly be appreciated due to its fauna and flora.

Autumn has seldom been associated with positive feelings by poets and artists, at least in the sub-continent, and has usually been referred to in literary terms as a period of sadness.

“Autumn is also called fall because the leaves fall off trees, leaving them barren and giving them a gloomy look which is why the season is associated with sadness,” said Hassan Abbas Raza, a local poet and former director of the Pakistan National Council of the Arts.

First planners of Islamabad ensured diversity of plants across the city

This is perhaps also because autumn comes before winters when the days are short and the surroundings are covered by fog and mist.

However, autumn is just as beautiful in the federal capital where the green belts boast luscious grass and trees are dressed in red, yellow, orange and golden leaves, which is mesmerising if caught right by the sun.

A resident said the colourful fallen leaves around massive trees in Islamabad paint a very beautiful picture.

“The days are warm and the temperature starts dropping after sunset. It is so nice to walk in the evening, with the crunch of fallen leaves under your feet,” said Zehra Ali, a resident of F-6.

“You have to seek out green spots or picnic spots in other cities, but we have nature all around us in Islamabad,” she said.

She pointed out that other cities turn gloomy in the autumn because all the leaves dry out and fall but in Islamabad, there are a myriad of colours on trees throughout the year because of the many varieties of trees on green belts and roadsides.

“Apart from the roads and other infrastructure, the diversity of plants has also made the city very pleasing,” said Capital Development Authority (CDA) Director Environment Irfan Niazi.

“The credit for this goes to the founders of the Environment Directorate who devised the plantation plan,” he added.

The forests and other plantations are not natural in the city nor did the first city planners allow the random growth of trees and plants.

The CDA still has a landscape plan and the trees are planted in groups to ensure a vast variety in the city.

“There is not a place in the city where we do not have flowers all year round and we have trees that are beautiful in fall as well,” Mr Niazi said.

The first of the trees to shed their leaves are Sapium, referred to as China Tali, the leaves of which turn red, pink and even light purple before falling while the leaves of Draik, a kind of Neem, turn golden yellow. The leaves of Mulberry and other trees turn yellow gradually and the leaves of Fiddlewood are the last to go.

“Therefore, the whole city does not go yellow and bare at once,” he said.

“Islamabad also has a large number of evergreen varieties such as Kachnar, Pine, Sukhchain and citruses so there is some green at all times,” he explained.

Leaves begin to die in the autumn as the green photosynthetic pigment and chlorophyll decay rapidly while other pigments such as yellow carotenoids decay slowly.

“This way, trees preserve their nutrition during winters when the key source of energy for them, sunlight, is limited,” said Dr Abdul Samad, chairperson of the Department of Plant Sciences at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2018