The tulip leaves look reddish when they come out of the ground. The bigger plants are greener. Did you notice the tulips are all different heights?

Why are the leaves different colors? Inside a plant leaf you find cells that contain pigments. The amount of each pigment in a leaf determines its color. Red pigments are called anthocyanins (an·tho·cy'·a·nins). Green pigments are called chlorophylls (chlo'·ro·phyls). In the newly emerging tulip leaves, changes in temperature and light above ground can trigger the red pigment or color. This is why they look red.

We see lots of pigments in fall leaves. Changes in the environment in the fall can affect the pigments. The weather is cooler, the nights are longer, and the light is different. These changes affect the leaves and allow us to see the other colors that were masked by the green chlorophyll pigments during the growing season.

Try an experiment with plant pigments >