The Science of Changing Leaves
Smithsonian.com has posted a fascinating time-lapse video of leaves transforming from chlorophyll-filled green to tones of yellow, red and brown, accompanied by an article explaining how leaves change color and some misconceptions about the process.
The video was created by Owen Reiser, a mathematics and biology student at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Reiser, Smithsonian.com reports, took 6,000 photos of leaves to weave together the video.
CaliforniaFallColor.com has reported previously how the change of leaf color results from the loss of chlorophyl, due to shorter days and fewer nutrients. Though, David Lee, Professor Emeritus of biological sciences at Florida International University and author of Nature’s Palette, The Science of Plant Color, says many (including us) have misreported (we won’t make the mistake again) that yellow and red leaves change the same way, when they do not.
Lee states in the Smithsonian.com article that the breakdown of chlorophyll in the leaves does reveal yellow and orange (carotenoids) hidden beneath, but that red (anthocyanin) pigments are produced within the leaves as they die.
There are two schools of thought as to why this happens. One is that the red color is a defensive measure to make the plants look an unhealthy red as the leaf dies, protecting it from plant-eating bugs and animals which are conditioned not to eat red foliage.
The other thought is that red is a form of photo protection. Horticulturist Bill Hoch, Smithsonian.com reports, believes red’s wavelength helps shield the leaf by absorbing excess light allowing the plant to more efficiently remove nitrogen from the proteins that are breaking down and send that nutrient back to tree limbs and roots, saving as much of it as possible before winter.
Whatever the cause, the result is spectacular and less than a month away from being seen in California.
Fall Fashion Trends
Here’s what every fashionista should know about what to wear or not, this autumn, from “A Fashion.”
“Shades of Orange” and “Merlot Wine Red,” are compatible with our view of fall’s colors, but “Guacamole Green?!” C’mon!
“White Coats” and “Light Blue” seem to be more valid as winter statements.
“Denim Dreams,” maybe. “Pale Pink,” definitely not.
CaliforniaFallColor.com Wins Seven EIC Awards
Seasonal Confetti, Roaring Camp Railroads, John Poimiroo
CaliforniaFallColor.com won in seven categories at the Outdoor Writers Association of California’s recent Excellence in Craft Awards, presented at Mount Shasta City in late May.
The website was named California’s Best Outdoor Internet Site for the second successive year and received first place awards for Best Outdoor News Article (Aspen Grove Trail Recovers) and Best Outdoor Feature Photograph (Seasonal Confetti), Best Outdoor Video Short (Giving Thanks).
CaliforniaFallColor.com received a second place award for California’s Best Outdoor Medium (won by the Bishop Visitor Guide) and two third place awards for Best Outdoor Photographic Series (Sacramento’s Last Leaves) and the Phil Ford Humor Award (Orange Friday).
More about the Outdoor Writers Association of California is found at OWAC.org.
Scouting Report: Siskiyou
Whenever I visit Siskiyou County, I question why it took so long to return. The county is so beautiful and loaded with tantalizing outdoor things to do that it’s a wonder it’s so lightly populated and traveled.
Siskiyou is the frosting atop California’s layer cake of spectacular places, and Mount Shasta is its grandest decoration.
What’s kept me from visiting more often has been my perception that it’s too far away. However, on a recent scouting trip up north, time melted away and anticipation built as I drove north on I-5.
Near Red Bluff, big, beautiful, frosted Mt. Shasta rose above the horizon, beckoning and reminding me why Siskiyou is so irresistible.
CaliforniaFallColor.com posts far too few reports from locations north of Shasta Lake, but when we do, they glitter with gold.
Among my favorites for fall color are the Klamath River, McCloud River, Hedge Creek, Mossbrae Falls, Faery Falls and any spot that contrasts fall color with Mt. Shasta.
I asked Siskiyou County’s Megan Peterson where locals go when the color begins sparkling. She likes the Scott Valley where bigleaf maple populate the twisting edges of the Scott River. Good one.
Megan also likes the Gateway Trail system near Yreka. Dogwood and Bigleaf Maple are the dominant deciduous trees and part of the Foundation Trail (part of the Gateway) has tightly bunched dogwood that “put on a great show” in autumn.
Hiker Jane Cohn of Mt. Shasta City lists the Castle Lake Shore Trail, Lake Siskiyou Trail, Box Canyon Trail, Ney Springs Canyon Trail, McCloud River Fall Trail, Sisson Meadow Trail, Dunsmuir Trail, Sacramento River Trail, Pine Tree Hollow Loop, Kelsey Creek Trail and Cabin Creek as all being flanked with pockets of bold color in autumn.
Hikemtshasta.com recommends the Cliff Lake Trail and Spring Hill Trail.
Then, of course, the Mt. Shasta Resort’s golf links are lined with trees that shine bright orange in autumn.
In late May, driving along the McCloud Road, dogwood were abloom with their floral white bracts, hinting at the display of yellow sure to appear once autumn arrives.
Autumn is, however, still a season away, but then don’t put off visiting, as I had. There’s just too much to see, enjoy and explore atop the state in Siskiyou County that is downright irresistible.
Inspired by Nature
Strategically placed chairs in a garden, Marjolein Bastin
In Inspired by Nature, life-long sketchbook artist Marjolein Bastin writes that her sketchbooks reflect what fascinates her in nature … butterflies and bumblebees, fluttering and buzzing around chairs in her garden. Petals and songbirds, berries and blossoms.
For fans of autumn, those images are of fallen leaves, reflections and intensely vibrant fall color, warm and embracing, yet wrapped in a brisk blanket.
Photographs of fall color can be breathtaking, but also limiting to what is seen. Sketching, on the other hand, allows the viewer to eliminate distractions and express detail.
Bastin’s handsome book is meant to be carried, tucked into a rucksack with pencils and watercolors, to be used in the field to capture “experiences, observations and nature finds.”
A blue, cotton bookmark, threaded into the binding, returns you to where you last sketched and a handy envelope inside the back cover provides a place to insert “Nature’s Finds and Treasures.”
There’s lots of empty space in the 64-page sketchbook, meant to be drawn upon, splashed with wet color and pen-scribed. And, example after example of Bastin’s sketches and observations guide how to fill a sketchbook.
Tho, there’s not much detail within Inspired by Nature to explain nature drawing and journaling. For that, get John Muir Laws’ tome, The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling. Laws’ book, though comprehensively instructive, is not one you take into the field. Bastin’s is.
When photographing fall color, I often find myself chasing light, then waiting for it to get golden. During that waiting time, sketching is a way to record observations visually that’s not dependent upon the perfect moment. As, with sketching, the point is to interpret perfection through creative expression.
Inspired by Nature Sketchbook (paperback, 6 x 6″) is available from Andrews McMeel Publishing ($16.99) wherever books are sold.
Coastal Color
Wildflowers are blooming along the Pacific Coast Highway (CA-1) between Cambria, north to Big Sur.
Color spotter Mark Harding drove Hwy 1 over the weekend, returning with these images of wildflowers and wildlife.
African daisies (osteospermum), Bixby Bridge, Coastal Highway (4/27/19) Mark Harding 
Tule elk play fighting, Coastal Highway (4/27/19) Mark Harding 
Smooth Tidy Tips (Layia chrysanthemoides) and Lupine, Coastal Highway (4/27/19) Mark Harding 
Bigleaf maple and coastal redwood, Big Sur, Coastal Highway (4/27/19) Mark Harding 
Hwy 46 between Cambria and Paso Robles (4/26/19) Mark Harding 
Hwy 46 between Cambria and Paso Robles (4/26/19) Mark Harding 
Wild turkey, Hwy 46 between Cambria and Paso Robles (4/26/19) Mark Harding
Backroad Beauty
The Eastern Sierra is now airbrushed with vibrant yellow, pink, blue, white, lavendar, crimson and purple wildflowers, reports Gigi De Jong from Bishop.
Gigi says most of the creeks leading out of the Sierra are feeding a flush of color along the foothills that is filling the sweet air with wild floral scents.
Flower types vary according to their proximity to the water and the soil and elevation where they’re growing, including cinquefoils, lupine, exotic bachelor’s buttons, tickseed and others.
Tinemaha Creek, Eastern Sierra (4/23/19) Gigi De Jong 
Tinemaha Creek, Eastern Sierra (4/24/19) Gigi De Jong 
Bachelor’s Buttons rising from a carpet of yellow, Tinemaha Creek, Eastern Sierra (4/24/19) Gigi De Jong
Many are sprayed across the hillsides. The predominantly yellow flowers growing close to the ground are often obscured by sage and rabbit brush, until you get out among them.
This is a great time of year to explore by off-road vehicle or by hiking, as many dirt roads and trails travel near the drainages.
For the Jeep roads that climb into the Eastern Sierra foothills, high-clearance vehicles are often needed. CLICK HERE for a list of OHV Roads in the Inyo National Forest.
Lupine, Division Creek, Eastern Sierra (4/24/19) Gigi De Jong 
Lupine, Division Creek, Eastern Sierra (4/24/19) Gigi De Jong 
Lupine, Division Creek, Eastern Sierra (4/24/19) Gigi De Jong 
Lupine, Division Creek, Eastern Sierra (4/24/19) Gigi De Jong 
Bigelow’s Tickseed (Leptosyne bigelovii), Tinemaha Creek, Eastern Sierra (4/24/19) Gigi De Jong 
Baker Creek, Eastern Sierra (4/23/19) Gigi De Jong 
Foothill Penstamon, Baker Creek, Eastern Sierra, (4/24/19) Gigi De Jong
Owens Valley Coming Out
It’s springtime in the Owens Valley and wildflowers are appearing first from the lowest elevations to the highest.
Gigi De Jong sends these images with a report that wildflowers are abloom in the southern Owens Valley and marching north.
Even the lizards are coming out.
Owens Valley (4/13/19) Gigi De Jong 
Owens Valley (4/13/19) Gigi De Jong 
Alabama Hills (4/13/19) Gigi De Jong 
Owens Valley (4/13/19) Gigi De Jong 
Lupine, Owens Valley (4/13/19) Gigi De Jong
Flawless Diamond Valley
A flawless super bloom is being seen at Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet, California where California poppies, lupine and other native wildflowers are carpeting the hills.
Alena Nicholas visited on Sunday, sending these images. For more information about visiting Diamond Valley Lake, visit dvlake.com and dvmarina.com.
- Diamond Valley Lake – Peak Wildflower Bloom (75-100%) GO NOW!
California poppies and lupine, Diamond Valley Lake (3/17/19) Alena Nicholas 
California poppies, Diamond Valley Lake (3/17/19) Alena Nicholas 
California poppies, Diamond Valley Lake (3/17/19) Alena Nicholas
Super Bloom Spring
With above-record rainfall drenching California this winter, wildflower super blooms are possible this Spring in Death Valley (late – Feb.), Anza Borrego State Park (mid-Mar.), the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve near Lancaster (early-Apr.) and the Carrizo Plain National Monument (early-Apr.).
Tiffany Camhi of KQED, San Francisco’s public television station, reported today that with a little more rain, a super bloom of poppies, lupine, owl’s clover and other wildflowers is possible.
The National Park Service reports that “The best blooms are triggered by an early, winter-type rainstorm in September or October, followed by an El Niño weather pattern that brings above average rainfall to the Desert Southwest.”
What’s needed for this rare profusion of wildflowers are preceding years of drought and massive winter rainfalls. Both have happened, so it’s “possible.”