California Fall Color

Dude, autumn happens here, too.

With a succession of three winter storms lashing Northern California today, it seems appropriate to blog about winter color, though as soon as the storms pass, there’ll still be a few weeks more of fall color to report.

Each winter, one of California’s most distinctive and colorful shows of foliage is seen at the San Francisco Botanical Garden where nearly 100 rare and historic magnolias erupt in a fragrant riot of vibrant pink and white flowers.

This floral spectacle is worth planning a trip to San Francisco to see.  Some of the ancient trees reach 80 feet in height and peak from mid-January through March.  Visitors to the Garden can take advantage of free Magnolia Walk maps, docent-led tours, special signage and more to celebrate and learn about these magnificent trees.

San Francisco Botanical Garden is home to the most significant magnolia collection for conservation purposes outside China, where the majority of species originated. Its current collection includes 51 species and 33 cultivars, including many prized examples from Asia.

This unique and long-standing collection began in 1939 with Eric Walther, who planted the very first magnolia in the Garden and continued to introduce species and cultivars throughout his tenure as the first Garden Director. One of the most famous species he planted was the cup and saucer magnolia or Magnolia campbellii, the first of its kind to bloom in the United States in 1940, attracting huge crowds of excited and curious visitors who stood in long lines to see the magnificent large pink blossoms of this lovely magnolia that still stands in the Garden today.

The show is best, mid-January to March.  The garden is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Jan., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Feb. and early March, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from the second Sunday in March through Apr.  Admission is free to San Francisco residents with proof of residence and $7 general, $5 seniors and students (12 – 17) with ID, $2 children (5-11) and free to kids 4 and under.  Family passes (2 adults and one or more kids) get in for a flat rate of $15.

More is found at www.sfbotanicalgarden.org or call (415) 661-1316.

Jon Klusmire sends this snapshot of a tree whose orange and red leaves have survived recent storms and winds that stripped other nearby trees.

It stands beside the Eastern California Museum in Independence.  Splashes of color like this remain to be seen across the Eastern Sierra during one of the most beautiful and long-lasting autumns we’ve recorded.

California Fall Color ends its daily reporting on Thanksgiving Day, though postings will continue as color is reported across California.

Location: Independence, Calif.
Temperature: 57.2 °F
Humidity: 42%
Dew point: 33.8 °F
Wind speed: 6km/hr
Wind direction: 300°
Cloud cover: n/a

With rain and snow lashing Northern California and ski areas opening, one might conclude autumn has given way to winter in California.  Not so.  Storms pass quickly, leaving behind lots of discoveries, like these images captured today in the Sierra foothills.

There are now four ways to use California Fall color: comment on this WordPress blog, follow us on Twitter (@CalifFallColor), post to Facebook (California Fall Color) or pin on Pinterest (California Fall Color).

A local weather function has been added to California Fall Color, as seen below.  We hope this is helpful in guiding leaf peepers, color photographers and color spotters.  Tell us what you think by clicking on “Leave a comment,” below.

Location: El Dorado Hills, CA
Temperature: 62.6 °F
Humidity: 59%
Dew point: 48.2 °F
Wind speed: 5km/hr
Wind direction: 200°
Cloud cover: n/a

Color spotter Jyoti Suravarjula sent these lovely photographs taken in late October near Gull Lake.  Color in the Eastern Sierra has now disappeared, though Jyoti’s photographs remind us of the beauty that was to be seen in one of the longest lasting shows of fall color in recent years.

15 – 30% – Santa Clara Valley - Sweet gum and California ash are coloring up in the South San Francisco Bay Area.

Photo Credit: © 2011  Jyoti Suravarjula

 

These wonderful pictures are provided to us by Chris Murdock who visited the Eastern Sierra a week ago (10/21/11).  Click on image to enlarge.

 

 

 

In previous high water years, we’ve noticed longer lasting fall color.  This, of course, is so dependent upon whether wind or storms in autumn knock leaves from the trees, but generally in wet years the color is long lasting.  Could that happen this autumn?  Stay tuned.

Friends of the Urban Forest will be planting 45 flowering cherry trees in San Francisco’s Japan Town on Saturday, Dec. 4 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  To participate in the volunteer effort, contact Sally Bentz at 415-268-0783 or sally@fuf.net.  Instruction on proper tree planting will occur at 9 a.m.

Amazing, but with a month to go before the official start of autumn, a few of the exotic ornamental trees in our area (Sierra Foothills, 800 ft. elev.) have begun showing signs of change.  Along local boulevards, some branches on Chinese pistache have turned brown.  Now that’s probably something peculiar to those trees, as everything else remains green on what has been an otherwise mild summer for California, after a wet winter.

California Fall Color may fall sooner than the leaves, however.  This blog was begun with financial support from a few destinations in California that experience spectacular fall color.  In order to be fully representative of our name, however, we included reports from across California at no cost to other destinations.  However, this summer we learned that the funding that supported California Fall Color isn’t available as in past years or will be used for other purposes, so funding to support weekly reporting here has been lost.

Without financial support, it is not possible to allocate the time needed to collect and process weekly submitted reports, as well as do my own reporting.  Part of the reason is California’s long fall color season (longest, most varied and perhaps the most spectacular in the USA).  It begins in early September, when color begins to show at the highest elevations of the Eastern Sierra and descends by elevation through the end of November.

I plan to post occasional reports, but only when received by color spotters.  I won’t be sending weekly fall color reports to TV weather reporters, newspapers, blogs and social media as in the past few years, mostly because the basic funding to do so isn’t there, so I apologize to those media who’ve come to depend on California Fall Color for accurate and regularly posted reports and photographs.

If you’re a color spotter or want to be, email reports and photos to us.  What we need is a detailed a description of what you saw: type of foliage, colors seen, where seen and degree of change (your assessment of what percentage of total foliage has turned color: 0-15%, 15-30%, 30-50%, 50-75%, 75-100% or Past Peak.  Peaking color is above 50%.  This is the same scale used by The Weather Channel).

Share what you see and and let’s all look forward to a colorful autumn.

Photo Credit: © 2009, John Poimiroo