Nearly Past Peak at Peters Canyon

Orange County was named for its citrus, not for its fall color. The south coast county is often the last to report and with little fall color. The best of it is found in the county’s regional parks where open space dominates.

Mark Hanning-Lee reports that willows and 76 varieties of meadow grasses are displaying autumn’s gold at Peters Canyon Regional Park in Irvine. They’re near peak, but the remaining winter deciduous color has peaked.

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At peak, scattered Fremont and black cottonwood, western sycamore, blue elderberry, bigleaf maple, white alder, creek dogwood, Southern and Northern California black walnut, California and Velvet ash provide spots of fall color. Presently, the Lake Loop Trail is a wash of peak orange grasses and near peak willow.

• Peters Canyon Regional Park, Irvine (683′) – Near Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, You Almost Missed It.