A Full Green Canopy
Summer is when trees look their biggest and greenest! The leaves that started as tiny buds in spring are now fully grown. They spread out wide to catch as much sunlight as possible.
All those green leaves create a thick layer on top of the tree called the canopy. The canopy provides cool shade underneath — perfect for a picnic on a hot day! Some trees, like oak trees and maple trees, have canopies so thick that very little sunlight reaches the ground below.
The leaves are dark green now because they are full of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is working hard all day long, using sunlight to make sugar that feeds the tree. This is why summer is the tree's biggest growing season — it has long sunny days to make lots and lots of food!
**Did You Know:** A single large tree can have over 200,000 leaves! That is a LOT of tiny food factories working together.