July is only just about to end, but fall colors have already begun to appear in spots around the Twin Cities metro.

In Plymouth, a number of maple trees have already had leaves turn to the familiar yellow, orange and red colors associated with the autumn months.

City officials say this is due to overly saturated soil, in turn creating a stress factor. According to Paul Buck, the city forester for Plymouth, when trees start their fall colors too early, there's a contributing stress factor.

Buck adds that maple trees, except for silver maples, don't like flooding conditions, and when exposed to them, the tree begins to shut down early due to a lack of oxygen in the soil.

By shutting down early, Buck says the tree will survive another year. However, that means the tree has less energy for the following year, which can cause smaller leaves and not as much growth. Once this happens repeatedly, it can cause the tree to have a "compromised defense" and eventually lead to its death.

To help keep these types of trees healthy, Buck offered the following three tips:

• Check the depth of any recently planted trees by finding the original root system. If the roots are below grade, you should move them to either at- or slightly above-grade.
• Don't irrigate your lawn as often. Watering once a week is enough to keep your lawn looking good when there's plenty of rainfall.
• Replace the turf underneath older trees with wood mulch, which helps retain soil moisture between rainfalls. When the mulch breaks down, this adds material to the soil that, in turn, feeds the tree and lessens the need for water underneath it.