According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fall color map, New Ulm will reach

peak fall leaf color this week, along with most of southern Minnesota.

Minnesota DNR records show that the change in leaf color did not become noticeable in Brown County until early October, when most leaves reached the yellow stage.

Last weekend, things began to look a little more orange on the western edge of Brown County. By Wednesday, the entire county had reached the orange or red stage. All of Brown County is expected to reach the full autumnal-red stage of the leaf season.

All the fall colors can be found in German Park’s garden. Though October is halfway over, peak fall colors are just arriving.

Unfortunately, peak fall colors are forecasted to end as early as Monday for Brown County.

The 2025 leaf season is slightly behind schedule compared to previous years. In 2024, most of Minnesota was past peak fall colors by mid October, but this year the leaves are retaining colors longer.

Southern Minnesota is typically the last section of Minnesota to experience the peak color. The color change first hits northern Minnesota first and moves south. In one section of the state between St. Cloud and Minneapolis, the is no significant change in the fall colors. However, this is expected to change after this weekend, with all of south and central Minnesota reaching the final color stage of the fall.

Though the window for viewing the fall colors in coming to an end, there is plenty of colorful flora to view in and around New Ulm. German Park remains one of the most colorful locations in the city. The garden surrounding the angel fountain still has some perennial plants in bloom.

“It has been a long growing season,” said New Ulm Park and Recreation gardener Mary Roufs. “It’s because we have not had a killing frost yet.”

Purple asters remain in bloom in German Park. The flowers tend to remain late into the fall season.

Roufs was in the German Park garden on Friday morning, cutting back some of the dead flowers. She said typically, she begins the cutback process earlier in October, but this year it was not necessary do to the warmer weather. In fact, this year she was able to plant more fall-blooming perennials. The purple asters are still in bloom in the park. The extra color late in the fall has attracted attention.

“We’ve had a lot of visitors to the park today,” Roufs said. She estimated 30 guests walked through the garden on Friday morning while she worked.

Roufs said it was MEA weekend, meaning more students were able to enjoy the parks during the day. She was happy that they still had the opportunity to see the garden in full color before winter.

Outside of German Park, some of the best New Ulm location for viewing the fall colors include South Park and Junior Pioneer Park near the Cottonwood River.

Some of the best fall colors can be found in Minnesota’s State Parks. The DNR website includes an updated index for leaf conditions in every state park, including a slide show of photos taken throughout the season. Flandrau and Minneopa State Park are expected to hit peak color this weekend.

As New Ulm reaches peak fall colors, the German Park angel fountain is surrounded by vibrant colors.

Visit https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fall_colors/index.html# to view the DNR’s fall color map finder.

A variety of fall colors can seen from the sidewalk along German Park.

Yellow is the primary color in Jr. Pioneer Park as New Ulm reaches peak leaf color for the fall season.

Trees along the edge of South Park have turned red for the season.

Courtesy of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources