Why do leaves turn color? Why don’t they put on a warm coat and earmuffs? In a way that’s what evergreens do. They protect their needle-like leaves from the cold with waxy coatings and natural “antifreezes.” But broadleaf plants shed their leaves. Before they do though the plants first try to salvage important nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. A natural chemical called chlorophyll gives leaves their green color throughout the growing season. Chlorophyll makes possible another miracle photosynthesis a chemical reaction that changes sunlight into carbohydrates the food plants live on. When the growing season is over the plant stops making the green chlorophyll leaving carotenoids which produce the yellow orange red and gold we see this time of year. They were there all along but the green covered them up.