San Francisco Bay Area – Page 10 – California Fall Color

Berkeley: Where Bears Meet Beauty

American beautyberry, UC Berkeley Botanical Garden (11/23/15) Sandy Steinman

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden (11/23/15) Sandy Steinman

Berkeley is perhaps California’s most misrepresented city.

It’s more than the Cal Bears and the great university for which they play.

It’s more than the student demonstrations for which the university became famous.

And it’s more than the “People’s Republic of Berkeley,” the oft-said slight to the liberal city and how it is managed.

Berkeley is a wonderful place to visit:

for its beautiful residences, many of which are handsome examples of California Craftsman architecture;
for its many fascinating shops, which often feature quality handcrafts and fine arts; and
for its wealth of great restaurants, including Chez Panisse where kitchen artist Alice Waters conceived farm to fork cooking.

Though, it is in Berkeley’s gardens where bears meet beauty.

One of the state’s loveliest gardens is the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley.

Though it will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, a truly “Berkeley” way to experience Black Friday, would be to protest the day’s in-your-face consumerism and make it an Orange Friday at the Botanical Garden.

Sandy Steinman, editor of Natural History Wanderings and a longtime friend and gifted observer of all things natural, sent these images taken in the Asian Section of the garden, showing it at peak.

The layered colors of crimson and gold are impressive, though it was the royal purple American beautyberry, genus callicarpa, that made us stop to look it up.

Clearly, we’re bearish on Berkeley’s beauty.

Peak (75-100%) GO NOW! – UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden (11/23/15) Sandy Steinman

November 24, 2015/by John Poimiroo

Saratoga Sugars Up

Ginkgo biloba, Saratoga (11/23/15) Anson Davalos

Chinese pistache, Saratoga (11/23/15) Anson Davalos

Chinese pistache and hawthorne, Saratoga (11/23/15) Anson Davalos

Three weeks ago, Silicon Valley color spotter Anson Davalos sent images of downtown Saratoga as it developed color.

This week it was at peak sugar with bright yellow ginkgo biloba, fluorescent red and orange Chinese pistache, ruby and gold hawthorne and maroon flowering pears heavy with leaves.

No doubt, today’s rain and wind sprinkled Saratoga streets with leafy confetti, as it did across Northern California.

Still, a lot of the color will likely remain through the coming weekend. If you’re heading to the South Bay at Thanksgiving, best bets include: Saratoga, Los Gatos, Pine St. San Jose, Campbell and Los Altos.

Peak (75-100%) GO NOW! – Saratoga

Ginkgo biloba, Saratoga (11/23/15) Anson Davalos

Chinese pistache, Saratoga (11/23/15) Anson Davalos

November 24, 2015/by John Poimiroo

Central Valley, Fall Color Report, Gold Country, Inland Empire, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, San Francisco Bay Area, Shasta Cascade

Fall Color for the Holidays

Elm, Southside Park, Sacramento (11/15/15) Jim Adams

Folks heading home for the holidays should see lots of fall color in yards and urban forests, as this sampling taken by color spotters across California attests.

Ginkgo biloba, Southside Park, Sacramento (11/15/15) Jim Adams

Maple, Southside Park, Sacramento (11/15/15) Jim Adams

Southside Park, Sacramento (11/15/15) Jim Adams

Jim Adams went out this week to capture glorious golden ginkgos and colossal claret-colored liquidambar along the boulevards of Sacramento’s Southside Park. Our state’s capital is a sight to behold in autumn when towering London Plane, Elm, Sycamore and trees of every imaginable variety, planted decades ago to shade the city from scorching summer heat, turn red-hot as Thanksgiving Day approaches.

Los Gatos (11/15/15) Anson Davalos

In the Santa Clara Valley (AKA Silicon), Anson Davalos found Los Gatos streets arched with rufous arbors.

Heavenly bamboo, Murietta (11/15/15) Nancy Wright

Liquidambar, Murietta (11/15/15) Nancy Wright

Murietta (11/15/15) Nancy Wright

And, near Riverside, Nancy Wright drove through Murietta to find heavenly bamboo and liquidambar brightening the southland.

What makes California fall color so different from other areas on the continent is that our Mediterranean climate allows many varieties of exotic deciduous trees to flourish. That doesn’t happen elsewhere in North America. And, that means we get a flush of brilliant color in our gardens, arboretums and urban forests that is incomparable.

Peak (75-100%) GO NOW! – California’s Urban Forests

November 19, 2015/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, San Francisco Bay Area

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Chinese pistache, Downtown Los Altos (11/7/15) Anson Davalos

There is no street named “Memory Lane” in Los Altos, though there should be.

Chinese pistache, Los Altos (11/7/15) Anson Davalos

Santa Clara Valley color spotter Anson Davalos’ photos of fall color brought back memories of the happy years I lived in Los Altos and enjoyed its temperate climate and adonic autumn color.

When I lived there, the valley hadn’t yet been named Silicon and apricot and plum orchards colored the valley with pink and white blossoms in springtime and gold and orange in fall.

Los Altos (sandwiched between Sunnyvale and Cupertino to its south and Mt. View and Los Altos Hills to its north) has the best weather in California. Orange County comes close, but without the autumnal show.

Anson captured irridescent Chinese pistache planted in downtown Los Altos. Los Altos has a village vibe with compact and interesting shops, the kind owned and operated by someone you know and who knows you.

And, it’s one of the towns in the South Bay that celebrates trees. Others Anson visited include Los Gatos, Saratoga and Campbell.

Fall color is near peak in most of them and will continue to peak for another two weeks.

Ginkgo biloba, Saratoga (10/25/15) Anson Davalos

Ginkgo biloba are now full of bright yellow in downtown Saratoga (they were just starting when Anson got this snap).

I wonder why more cities don’t plant them, as Ginkgos have gorgeous yellow color, creating spectacular boulevards, and they’re non-invasive.

Sweet gum, Campbell (11/5/15) Anson Davalos

And, in Campbell and Los Gatos, Anson found sugar gums sweetening neighborhoods with carmine color.

Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW! – Santa Clara Valley

November 9, 2015/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, San Francisco Bay Area

Look Down, Not Up

Berkeley (12/1/14) Sandy Steinman

Color spotter Sandy Steinman observed that Berkeley has so many overhead telephone and power lines that they make for unattractive photographs of the urban canopy.

He recommends looking down to find more harmonious fall color and provides these post Thanksgiving dressings.

December 2, 2014/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, San Francisco Bay Area

Black Friday Colors Up in Berkeley

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden (11/28/14) Sandy Steinman

Sandy Steinman spent his Black Friday searching for fall color and found the best deal of the day at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden where color was peaking.

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden (11/28/14) Sandy Steinman

UC Berkeley Botanic Garden (11/28/14) Sandy Steinman

Berkeley (Peak 75-100%) – UC Berkeley Botanic Garden is full of peak color. GO NOW!

November 29, 2014/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, San Francisco Bay Area, What They're Saying

The Other Napa Valley

Toyon (11/15/14) Sandy Steinman

Lichens (11/15/14) Sandy Steinman

Oak Gall (11/15/14) Sandy Steinman

Acorn Woodpecker (11/15/14) Sandy Steinman

California Buckeye (11/15/14) Sandy Steinman

A weathered fence dressed in lichens (11/15/14) Sandy Steinman

Bigleaf Maple (11/15/14) Sandy Steinman

Beyond the vineyards, “up the hills west of Hwy 29,” Sandy Steinman writes in his blog, the Napa Valley has “quiet twisty roads” that go through the forest. In these hilly residential areas above the valley, there’s lots of fall color to be seen. Below, some vineyards are “showing a lot of color’ while others are past peak.

One of California’s signature fall color trees, the yellow bigleaf maple, provides the predominant color, though also seen are “Spice Bush, Oregon Ash, Willows, Walnut and Oaks. Toyon (often called Christmas berry or California holly) is showing off its bright red berries.” Less colorful but interesting – he notes – are California Buckeye that have lost their leaves, but whose branches are heavy with fruit. Flitting among the trees, Steinman reports, are colorful “Acorn Woodpeckers and Stellar Jays, who were out in number along with Golden-crowned Sparrows, Turkey Vultures and Ravens.”

Often overlooked for their color are silver Lichens which hang down from trees and cover fences with moody foliage.

Napa Valley (Peak 75-100%) – Steinman recommends these roads to see Napa’s backstage fall show: Redwood Road, Mt, Veeder Road and Dry Creek. He writes, they make a nice loop, though not for much longer, as peak is about over. GO NOW!

November 16, 2014/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, San Francisco Bay Area

Napa Valley Continues to Glow

Napa Valley (11/9/14) Susan Taylor

Napa Valley (11/8/14) Susan Taylor

Napa Valley (Peak 75-100%) – Reports from the Napa Valley have been that this has been one of the most gorgeous autumns in years. Susan Taylor’s striking photos from this past weekend show what’s happening. GO NOW!

November 14, 2014/3 Comments/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco’s Washington Thorn Flush Bright Red

Washington Thorn (11/10/14) Doug Wildman

When Ben Carlson of San Francisco’s Friends of the Urban Forest asked colleagues what fall color they were seeing in The City, he said they responded, “Not much – San Francisco is always late.”

True. SF peaks from now through Thanksgiving Day, though notable exceptions are the bright yellow of exotic Ginkgos (Ginkgo biloba and American Sweet Gums (Liquidambar styracifluas). Then, Doug Wildman, FUF’s program director, mentioned to Carlson that Washington Thorns (Crataegus phaenopyrums) are showing fall color and red berries throughout San Francisco. He sent these photos of a tree that FUF planted in 1999.

San Francisco (Patchy 10-50%) – The City should be peaking over the next three weeks. It’s now patchy, though SF’s fall color should move to near peak between this weekend and Thanksgiving Day. Beautiful color is seen throughout the city’s neighborhoods, though is best in Golden Gate Park at the Arboretum and Japanese Tea Garden, where it is peaking now.

November 13, 2014/by John Poimiroo

Central Coast, Fall Color Report, San Francisco Bay Area, Wildlife

Santa Cruz Fluttering to Peak

Monarch Butterflies, Natural Bridges State Park (11/10/14) Cory Poole

Color spotter Cory Poole made an incredible road trip this past weekend, stopping at points all around the San Fancisco and Monterey Bay areas, reporting that he didn’t get into the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park but that a peek over the fence had it peaking. C’mon Cory, you mean to tell us you toured the rainforest exhibit at the Academy of Sciences instead!? Can’t blame you.

Still, he did send this shot of monarch butterflies wintering on eucalyptus trees at Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz. We often make a trip to that great park and also to Lighthouse Point in Santa Cruz where the monarchs are seen now through early December.

Wildlife viewing is a legitimate aspect of California Fall Color (look for our next post on Yosemite) and the return of the monarchs is special. The butterflies cluster on the branches, close to one another to avoid the cold, but when the sun is clear and shining on them, they spread their wings and flutter about, often landing on you. Definitely a must do for fall color spotters.

To read previous posts about the monarchs and where they can be seen, search “Monarch” or CLICK HERE.

In other news from Santa Cruz County, color spotter Nicole Coburn reports from Soquel that the Summit Road which runs from the summit of Hwy 17 down to Soquel is peaking with canopies of bright yellow bigleaf maple overhanging the road.

Monarch Butterflies (Peak 75-100%) – The monarch butterflies have returned to Natural Bridges State Park and other nesting areas along the California Coast. To attract monarchs to your backyard, plant milkweed this coming year. Read Cory’s comment, below, for an absolutely vivid description of the experience of standing amidst thousands of swirling butterflies being attacked by a corvid. GO NOW!

Summit Road (Peak 75-100%) – Summit Road is canopied with yellow bigleaf maple. GO NOW!

November 11, 2014/1 Comment/by John Poimiroo

Berkeley: Where Bears Meet Beauty

Saratoga Sugars Up

Fall Color for the Holidays

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Look Down, Not Up

Black Friday Colors Up in Berkeley

The Other Napa Valley

Napa Valley Continues to Glow

San Francisco’s Washington Thorn Flush Bright Red

Santa Cruz Fluttering to Peak

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