What passes for fall color in my garden

Coastal Southern California isn't known for its fall color but we do get a bit.  Here's a rundown of what my garden has to offer this season:

Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku', recently pruned, always presents a good display

In contrast, my only other Japanese maple, Acer palmatum 'Mikawa Yatsubusa', a dwarf variety, never really colors up

Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' looks especially good when backlit

My garden's star performer for fall color is this persimmon tree, Diospyros kaki 'Fuyu'

A side view of the same tree, which I have to admit looks better without the fence we recently removed crowding it

Closeup of the  'Fuyu' leaves shown on the left.  The fallen leaves are rapidly filling my compost bin (right).

Unfortunately, my other persimmon tree, Diospyros kaki 'Hachiya', quickly drops its leaves without creating much of a display.  Right now, it looks like a twiggy mess but I do intend to prune it.

In prior years, the leaves of the 'Hachiya' persimmon have been a dull brown but this year many of those that dropped did show off attractive color.  I can only assume the change was attributable to cooler-than-usual weather.

The ornamental pear, Pyrus calleryana, makes a terrible mess but it does produce some colorful leaves.  I spent over an hour cleaning them up on Monday but there are far fewer left since it's been pruned.

Roger's Gardens 'Celebration' Impatiens, sold to commemorate the destination garden center's 50th anniversary earlier this year, surprised me by displaying a bit of fall color, which isn't something I expect from Impatiens.  The plant was a gift from a friend.

Since I removed my out-of-control Pyracantha last year, the only colorful berries I have to offer during the fall season are those supplied by Auranticarpa rhomibifolium (aka diamond-leaf pittosporum).

Our neighbor's garden provides a much splashier display of fall foliage:

The neighbors front garden is lined with sweetgum trees (Liquidambers of some variety) with a few Ginkgo bilobas tucked in

More Liquidambers and Ginkgos on the other side of the neighbor's driveway with a yellow blanket of leaves below

The vast majority of my trees and shrubs are evergreens, as is common in a warmer climate like mine.  While I do wish we had more fall color, I nonetheless appreciate the fact that I don't have more leaves to sweep up.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

This and that

I woke up Monday morning to find a thick blanket laying over the Port of Los Angeles below us.  This happens periodically each year but it still feels queer, like a scene from the Twilight Zone.  We're used to an active scene at the Port.  Even at night, it's fully lit up, like something you'd see from the window of an airplane as you descend to land at a busy airport.  On Saturday, the marine layer blew in during the late afternoon hours and the harbor lights were literally blacked out by the fog.  That, and the relative silence that seems to accompany dense fog, was creepy.   Then Monday morning, although the marine layer was entirely gone at our elevation by 6am, the fog condensed over the Port, making it virtually invisible.

All you could see of the harbor was the top of shipping cranes and the upper section of the Vincent Thomas Bridge

A closer look

This shot showing part of my back garden emphasizes how clear it was at our elevation by comparison to the Port.  Our property sits just over 800 feet above sea level.

As temperatures ramped up, the fog cleared, revealing the Port once again.

It was clear by 10am that morning.  The view revealed 2 cruise ships in the harbor.

The thick blanket was back - and even deeper - on Tuesday morning, however.

Even the cranes and bridge were buried under the clouds yesterday morning.  The fog never lifted entirely on that occasion.

The weather forecast suggests we're in for a marked change as the week continues.  There's a solid prospect of rain on the horizon, starting as early as Thursday and possibly stretching through the weekend.  That's a good/bad thing as my annual tree trimming exercise is scheduled to start at 8am Thursday morning.  The latest forecasts now suggest that rain won't arrive until late afternoon that day so I'm hoping that the tree service's work won't be postponed.  I'd like to get that activity over and done with.

The ornamental pear tree in the front garden is dropping leaves by the bushel.  I'm sweeping them up every other day now so I'm looking forward to that particular tree's scheduled trimming.  Seventeen trees and large shrubs are on the list for trimming and 2 dead shrubs are slated for removal so it'll be a jam-packed day.

There's still relatively little fall color here but, for perhaps the first time, the 'Hachiya' persimmon (Diospyros kaki) produced some pretty leaf color, along with its fruit.  The leaves usually go from green straight to brown before they drop.  In contrast, the 'Fuyu' persimmon is only just showing some color.

As I wait for the tree trimmers, I'm trying to get more bulbs in the ground before the next rainstorm, as well as continuing my fall garden cleanup.  

I spent most of my time in the garden yesterday watering and tidying things up, getting only 20 Ranunculus corms planted.  I received the last of my fall bulb orders yesterday and would love to get them planted up before the rain arrives but that may be unrealistic.  I still have a significant number of bulbs in the refrigerator getting the equivalent of their winter chill so they won't be planted until mid-December.

Meanwhile, my husband went ahead with removal of the wood fence bisecting our north side garden despite what I thought was an agreement to bring in a contractor to handle it.  He took the fence down in manageable stages.  (The plan for the fence's removal was discussed in an earlier post here.)

This was stage 2, which involved removal of two-third's of the planks between the posts

The rest of the planks went in stage 3

Removal of the posts was the hardest part.  My husband discovered that the posts (albeit not the cedar planks) were riddled with termite damage.

View looking from the northeast side of the garden looking west once the fence was gone

View from the cutting garden looking east

Once the active termites have been dealt with, the baton passes to me to weave the formerly separated areas together.  Sadly, I think the 'Pink Pearl' Leptospermums will have to go, much as I love them.  They look ungainly without the backdrop of the fence.  I'm trying to think of a spot to put one elsewhere but I expect I'll be filling in most of the empty space shown here, originally occupied with rosemary shrubs, with succulents.

The plan for removal of the pergola attached to the front of the house remains open for further discussion.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Fall color comes in various forms

With cooler temperatures, we've finally seen a bit of colorful foliage in my part of coastal Southern California.  My garden is still mostly green but I appreciate the bright touches where I find them and wanted to share them.  I haven't restricted myself to foliage color either.  Some flowers and berries put on a great show at the start of our all too short cool season as well.

I showed Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku' (aka coral bark Japanese maple) in my foliage post earlier this month but its color is more pronounced now.  It's yet to start dropping leaves en masse but I suspect that's coming soon.

The color of Aloe vanbalenii x ferox isn't provided by its leaves but by the budding flower stalks

The berries of Auranticarpa rhombifolium (aka diamond leaf pittosporum) have been later to develop this year, possibly due to delayed pruning on my part

The color of the smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple') is more vivid now than it was weeks ago

Closeup of the Cotinus foliage.  The water droplets were delivered courtesy of another 0.07/inch of precipitation on Wednesday.

Along with the Japanese maple, the 'Fuyu' persimmon (Diospyros kaki) is at the top of the list of the most colorful trees in my garden

In contrast to the 'Fuyu' persimmon, the foliage of my other persimmon, Diospyros kaki 'Hachiya', is muted in color but its fruit is more colorful.  The fruit I wasn't able to reach is gradually being "picked" by critters.  (Like many people I know, the critters appear to like the 'Fuyu' fruit better - they took care of the fruit of that tree much more quickly.) 

My Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold', planted in 2021, is still struggling to live up to its potential

Including Grevillea 'Superb' in the lineup of this post is a bit of a cheat as it blooms year round but I couldn't resist.  All it takes are cooler temperatures and a tiny amount of rain to make the shrub shine.

Nandina domestica (aka heavenly bamboo) contributes both colorful foliage and bright red berries at this time of year.  Regrettably, the poisonous berries of the Nandina are off limits for inclusion in floral arrangements, especially with a young cat now in residence.

This succulent was labeled as a Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera bridgesii) but, based on the leaves, I think it's actually a Thanksgiving cactus (S. truncata)

Tagetes lemmonii (aka Mexican marigold) blooms in spring as well as fall but it deserves a shout out during both seasons

Our ornamental pear tree (Pyrus calleryana) is notably absent from this survey as it's off to a particularly slow start this season.  My blueberries are also unimpressive at this time but then I think they may have been in their pots too long.

Overall, my neighborhood is relatively short on fall color too but there are some notable exceptions.

The sweetgum trees (Liquidamber styraciflua) across the street put on the best show to be found in our neighborhood

There are 3 Ginkgo trees tucked into that neighbor's mix too.  Their success gives me hope for mine.  These trees were already mature when we moved in almost 14 years ago so I'm giving my 3 year old tree a break.

This tree is in another section of that same garden.  My best guess is that it's what's known as the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima).  It's considered invasive in California but it is pretty.

I can't identify this shrub growing within a mass of other shrubs in another neighbor's garden either.  My phone app thinks it may be a blueberry but I've never seen any berries on it.

The fall color in this garden is composed of the Aloe arborescens (candelabra also) in the mix.  The Bougainvillea, hard-pruned by this neighbor many months ago, and the spires of Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire' make this a dramatic color mix.  Bougainvillea bracts and the Euphorbia "sticks" are always more colorful at this time of year.

Still another neighbor has a great crop of tangerines ripening up

The colorful element here is another flower, the red "bottle brushes" of a Callistemon.  This neighbor lives 2 doors down from us but I could swear that I've never noticed it in flower before..

Pyracanthas shine this time of year.  I had our self-planted shrub cut down to the ground but I appreciate the large, thorny shrubs in other people's gardens.

Beyond the trees fronting the road directly across street, fall foliage color is in short supply in my neighborhood.  Bougainvillea is the notable exception in providing flashes of color but then those shrubs aren't specifically characteristic of the fall season.  The bright berries of Pyracantha are the most prominent elements this time of year.  I'm surprised that I haven't seen Japanese maples anywhere nearby but then I only have two of them myself.  (The dwarf variety doesn't color up much.)  I've tried introducing additional Japanese maples in my garden but I've discovered that they need protection from the intense summer sun, as well as the powerful bouts of wind we get at times, and I just haven't found any other areas that allow them to thrive.

If you're in the US, I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you have the opportunity to celebrate the holiday throughout the weekend.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Fall color, Southern California style

The Santa Ana winds are blowing again and the leaves of the deciduous trees are quickly falling so I thought it'd be a good idea to share what passes for autumn color here while it lasts.  We don't get cold enough to experience the kind of foliage color that the northeastern parts of the country are famous for, although the nights feel cold to us!

My largest Japanese maple, an Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku', colored up earlier in the season and is now a mass of dry brown leaves.  I completely missed the colorful leaves of the peach tree on our back slope so I haven't included either in this post but here are the rest:

The smoke tree, Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple', had lost most of its leaves too by the time I got around to photographing it

This persimmon tree, Diospyros kaki 'Fuyu', offers the most rewarding color in my garden this time of year.  I harvested a bumper crop of the fruit this year, giving most of it away to friends and neighbors.

Not a plant known for its fall color but the foliage of Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' is darker at this time of year

This isn't foliage at all but rather the seedpods of Magnolia grandiflora, which drop in substantial numbers this time of year.  The birds and squirrels seem to have a taste for the bright red seeds embedded in the pods.

I love the bright colored leaves on this ornamental pear, Pyrus calleryana, although I could do without the small fruits that fall with them.  I've never even seen the birds eat the fruit.

My blueberry bushes are in need of pruning but this Vaccinium corymbosum 'Bountiful Blue' develops pretty pink foliage in cooler weather

I've been trying to get rid of this noID Wisteria ever since we moved in.  I haven't yet succeeded but the plant does provide a little fall color.

 

The Ginkgo tree we planted last year has been a disappointment.  Two late heatwaves, arriving back-to-back, burned the tree's leaves a dismal brown and caused them to drop prematurely.  Later the onset of a little rain and cooler temperatures brought out a small amount of spring-like green leaves that have continued to hang on.

The fresh leaves of Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold' haven't turned gold nor fallen yet.  I hope this flush doesn't prevent the tree from leafing out more fully come spring.

 

By comparison, my neighbor's front garden provides a lot of color.

My neighbor referred to these trees as sugar maples once.  While they have maple-like leaves, I'm pretty sure the majority are Liquidambars with a couple of Ginkgos in the mix.

There's another group of them on the other side of the driveway

Closeups of the leaves and, more specifically the spiky seedpods, make it clear this isn't a maple as maple seedpods, called samaras, have more delicate helicopter shapes

The only tree in the section behind the hedge I can identify is the fig tree, with its glowing yellow leaves

This noID tree has redder foliage than the rest.  I haven't seen it up close so I don't know if it has the seedpods that characterize Liquidambers.  It's possible it could be a silver maple (Acer saccharinum), which, unlike a sugar maple, is suitable to our climate, at least according to my Sunset Western Garden Book.

That's it for me this week.  The rain that was in the forecast for early next week sadly appears to have evaporated, although there's a chance of some later that week.  Fingers crossed.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party