Last Light
The last light of fall color can still be seen in California’s orchards and woodlands.
Walt Gabler found it along CA-20 from Williams to Clear Lake, though noted “It is nearing its end.”
The Lake County region (north of the Napa Valley) gets its fall color from its pear and walnut orchards, vineyards and California native trees (bigleaf maple, black oak, cottonwood).
This lovely area surrounds the largest natural freshwater lake wholly within California. It is also ancient. Samples of sedimentary levels date it as 480,000 years old.
Renowned as a bass fishing water, Clear Lake is also famed for watersports, including swimming, water skiing, wakeboarding, sailing, jet skiing and boat racing.
More recently, the area’s wineries have attracted attention. The best-known Lake County wineries include: Guenoc, Langtry Estate Vineyards and Winery, Ployez Winery, Steele Wines, and Wildhurst Vineyards.
This late in autumn, snow has dusted the High Sierra and California holly (Toyon) are now dressing coastal and valley woodlands with bright red Christmas berries.
- CA-20, Williams to Upper Lake – Peak to Past Peak, You Almost Missed It.
Water-born Color
Late November rain pushed up mushrooms across Upper California, this past week.
Shasta Cascade color spotter Gabriel Leete found these fungi near the Sacramento River at Anderson River Park. Gabe reported previously that mushroom hunting had been disappointing so far this autumn, but now that rains are falling, mushrooms are flourishing in northstate forests.
- Mushrooms, Anderson – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Recycled Christmas Trees
Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) is providing San Franciscans with a way to bring seasonal cheer into their homes, while supporting the planting of trees throughout The City.
In partnership with the San Francisco Department of the Environment and Hayes Valley Art Works, Friends of the Urban Forest offers living, potted Christmas trees in November and December, each year.
A tax-deductible donation ($75 early bird and $95 after December 1), provides rental of a three-to-six-foot-tall, non-traditional living tree to bring home for decoration and enjoyment.
After the holidays, trees returned to FUF are planted in San Francisco as part of the organization’s Neighborhood Tree Planting program.
Popular choices include Primrose, Fruitless Olive, and Fern Pine. Unfortunately, deciduous trees aren’t used in the program, as they’ve dropped their leaves, though anything that gets more trees planted in our cities is good for the air and the spirit … including the Christmas spirit.
To learn more about FUF’s Green Christmas Tree program, CLICK HERE.
Holiday Lights
In the San Gabriel Mountains, December is lit with orange, vermillion, yellow and russet.
Southern California color spotter Naresh Satyan reports, “We just had our first big winter storm in Southern California last week, and yet it feels like fall, in some areas, in the mountains.”
He spent the day walking the West Fork of the San Gabriel river in San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and found beautiful fall color still lingering.
-
W Fork San Gabriel river 12-2-18 -
W Fork San Gabriel river 12-2-18 -
W Fork San Gabriel river 12-2-18 -
W Fork San Gabriel river 12-2-18 -
W Fork San Gabriel river 12-2-18 -
Bigleaf maple, W Fork San Gabriel River (12-2-18) Naresh Satyan
Bigleaf maple, California sycamore, willows and various other plants remain vibrant along West Fork Road.
Naresh found it hard to describe what is peak color, “since it seems like the trees don’t all turn at the same time. We have a few trees in peak color, but I’d say most of it is past peak.”
- W. Fork San Gabriel River, San Gabriel Mountains – Peak to Past Peak, You Almost Missed It.
Seasonal Confetti
Sycamore had scattered their confetti at Roaring Camp in Felton today, as dads and little boys watched a steam engine take on water.
Few leaves remained clinging to branches near the railroad, though beyond the meadow a few stalwarts stood sentry, holding chestnut-brown bunches of them until the slightest breeze would free their leaves to tumble through the air.
It is definitely Past Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains, though an autumn air prevails.
- Felton – Past Peak, YOU MISSED IT.
The Holly and The Ivy
Holly standeth in the hall fair to behold,
Ivy stands without the door; she is full sore a coldHolly and his merry men, they dancen and they sing;
Ivy and her maidens, they weepen and they wring.Ivy hath a lybe, she caught it with the cold,
So may they all have, that with Ivy hold.
Holly and ivy have been linked together for many centuries, though they are quite different plants. The Holly is a tree, Ivy a vine.
Owlcation.com tells us, that used as a mythological symbol ivy was associated with the Ancient Greek god of wine, Dionysus who often wore a crown of ivy.
English ivy grew abundantly over the childhood home of Dionysus, the mythic mountain Nysa. To the middle ages, ivy was associated with alcoholic beverages, often hung from an alepole or alestake outside a tavern to indicate that the establishment served wine or ale.
The expression “Good wine needs no bush,” meaning that something of merit needs no advertisement, comes from a bunch of ivy being called a bush. In other words, good wine needs no alepole, as word of mouth will establish its quality.
In “The Holly and the Ivy,” a traditional Christmas carol, holly is mentioned throughout, but ivy is mentioned only in the first and last verse, almost as an afterthought.
Ivy certainly is no afterthought at American colleges, where ivy-covered walls have become synonymous with prestigious education. The practice of growing ivy over the brick walls of northeastern colleges, evolved to their sports teams being described as within The Ivy League.
Other universities and colleges adopted the horticultural practice growing climbing vines of Boston Ivy, Parthenocissus tricupidata, and English Ivy, Hedera helix, on their walls as verdant symbols of higher education.
At Scripps, a renowned women’s college in Claremont, Calif., Boston Ivy climbs the walls, providing late autumn color.
Kaiyuan Chen reports that the vine – which is from China not from Boston – and the school’s other deciduous trees and shrubs now vary from Peak to Past Peak.
That’s appropriate, as it’s almost time to sing …
The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir
- Claremont Colleges, Claremont – Peak to Past Peak, You Almost Missed It.
Davis Delivers
When it comes to late November beauty, Davis delivers.
Local color spotter Marc Hoshovsky explored his town, interrupting a California gray squirrel as he dined on Hawthorne berries in downtown Davis.
UC Davis students were similarly preoccupied, as they passed oblivious to the fall color while walking or riding to classes.
Davis is filled with exotic (hawthorne, Chinese pistache, Japanese maple, gingko biloba, dawn redwood, Bradford Pear) and occasional native color (Valley oak), providing a bright pallette of auburn, red, vermillion, orange, yellow, rust and green.
-
Japanese maple, Dartmouth Pl, Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
B and 6th St., Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
City Hall, Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
City Hall, Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Environmental Horticulture Hall, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Lake Spafford, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Lake Spafford, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Dawn Redwood, Wyatt Pavilion, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Lake Spafford, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Gingko biloba, Lake Spafford, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Lake Spafford, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Lake Spafford, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Main Theater, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Main Theater, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Olson Hall, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Gingko biloba, Hoagland Hall, UC Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Valley oak, Antioch Dr., Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Reed Dr., Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Gingko biloba and Bradford Pear, Villanova Dr., Davis (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky -
Davis Senior High School (11/27/18) Marc Hoshovsky
- Davis – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
November ends, not the color
Today is the last day of November, but there’s still another 20 days of autumn ahead.
Frank McDonough of the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden demonstrates what’s ahead in today’s post.
California’s arboreta and botanic gardens are in their own, presently, with holiday displays blending with final bursts of fall color. To find an arboretum near you, CLICK HERE.
LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia (11/28/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia (11/28/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia (11/28/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia (11/28/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia (11/28/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia (11/28/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia (11/28/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia (11/28/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia (11/28/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia (11/28/18) Frank McDonough
LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden (11/30/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden (11/30/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden (11/30/18) Frank McDonough LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden (11/30/18) Frank McDonough
- Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
The Golden State
Headlining an article in today’s Travel Newsletter, the Los Angeles Times asserts that “In fall, California truly is the Golden State.”
Travel Editor, Catharine Hamm backed that assertion up with a video created from beautiful photographs that appeared on CaliforniaFallColor.com this autumn and repeated our tagline that “Dude, autumn happens here too.’
To see the Los Angeles Times’ take on California Fall Color in 2018, CLICK HERE.
More Livermore Sycamore
Who said, “More is Less”?
That certainly isn’t true when more Livermore sycamores appear in a fall color submission.
Marc Crumpler shares these colorful and distorted Western sycamore (Platanus racemosa) peaking at Sycamore Grove Park in Livermore.
-
California sycamore, Sycamore Grove Park, Livermore (11/24/18) Marc Crumpler -
California sycamore, Sycamore Grove Park, Livermore (11/24/18) Marc Crumpler -
California sycamore, Sycamore Grove Park, Livermore (11/24/18) Marc Crumpler -
California sycamore, Sycamore Grove Park, Livermore (11/24/18) Marc Crumpler -
California sycamore, Sycamore Grove Park, Livermore (11/24/18) Marc Crumpler -
California sycamore, Sycamore Grove Park, Livermore (11/24/18) Marc Crumpler -
California sycamore, Sycamore Grove Park, Livermore (11/24/18) Marc Crumpler -
California sycamore, Sycamore Grove Park, Livermore (11/24/18) Marc Crumpler
California sycamore are a wonderfully sculptural tree. D.C. Peattie (Eva Begley writes in Plants of Northern California) described them in Natural History of Western Trees as spreading along the ground with branches pointing upward, “like a horse scratching his back on the ground and kicking up his legs,”
Unlike American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) and London Plane that tend to carry chartreuse-colored leaves that mottle to buff, California sycamore are bright orange, sometimes red or yellow. Marc’s photographs show strong examples of California sycamore at peak.
- Livermore Valley – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!