Katy Dickinson

Fall Color in Silicon Valley

California is not famous for its Autumn color. Many plants get confused by what passes for seasons here on the west coast. Instead of the traditional four: Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter, California has just two: the mostly wet and very dry seasons (sometimes called the mudslide and wildfire seasons). Nonetheless, we do have some plants in the San Francisco Bay Area which make an Autumn effort. The Red Oaks have turned already. Soon, we will see the flaming displays of yellow-orange-red Chinese Pistache leaves, yellow Ginkgo trees, and red Pyracantha berries. We just drove from Palo Alto to San Jose on Highway 280: the new color show is worth seeing! It is not a riot of color, just a colorful protest against the prevailing pallet of grey-green and brown.

My roses are putting on their last display before shutting down with the coming cold. I have eleven rose bushes, including two of my favorite, Chrysler Imperial. Chrysler Imperial is a Hybrid Tea Rose from 1952, one of the first roses used to market a consumer product (the Chrysler Imperial car). The Chrysler Imperial rose starts off as a scarlet bud, then darkens to a rich violet red color as the bloom ages. The flower scent is deep and complex.

Gas prices are dropping with the leaves. During our August 2008 family road trip, we paid prices as high as $4.99/gallon. Last night in San Francisco, gas was for sale at $2.99/gallon. Always pleasant to have some good news!

Red Oak leaves

Red Oak leaves

Red Oak leaves

"Chrysler Imperial" rose

"Chrysler Imperial" rose

"New Day" rose

"Playboy" rose

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 04:25PM Oct 27, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |