Fall color in San Diego (Oh… its winter?)

  

Its the middle of winter in San Diego right now… and the best fall color I have ever seen here. Something about the weather this winter (early cold, lots of rain at just the right time) prompted all of the trees that change color to put on their best show. The Liquidambars were bright red flames, the Mulberrys were gorgeous lemon yellow, the Crape Myrtles were a rich rust and even the Chinese Elms (which I would never never list as a fall color tree) had a lovely yellow cast to them.  All of the photos included are ones I took around town… really!

So a quick list of great fall color to include in your garden if you live in Southern California:

– Liquidambar (Palo Alto is very popular but there are a lot of these to chose from, primarily red and burgundy)
– Pistacia chinensis, Chinese Pistache, bold red
– Ginkgo biloba, light lemon yellow
– Crape Myrtle, rust red

   – Mulberry, lemon yellow
   – Chinese Tallow Tree, red orange and yellow all at once
   – Fruiting peach, orange red
   – Japanese Maple (or Silver Maple if you live inland), bold red
   – Boston Ivy (vine) bright red