The crisp nights of late summer remind me of fall in the east and midwest. I grew up in the Garden State, where trees turn from cool greens to hot yellows, reds, oranges, and purples as the weather cools down.
There, the time of rest in the garden is defined by the lowest temperatures of the year: winter. In California, the time of rest is defined by growing dryness in the native garden.
The dormant season for many native plants, late summer to early fall, coincides with the start of the fall color display. Now is the time to relax in the shade and plan. Once the rains start, planting can resume, and then the plants can have all winter to grow roots.
In California, many native plants keep their muted gray-green and blue-green leaves year-round. The fall color of the deciduous trees and shrubs is less intense than in colder climates. Even the native maples, oaks, and dogwoods produce more subtle colors here than at higher elevations.
California buckeye trees, in sync with the wet and dry seasons, are the first to shed leaves in late summer, the better to show off their sculptural structure.
Vine maples have excellent fall color, which “can be better than Japanese maples,” according to Kevin Raftery, a local arborist who teaches a class on fall color at Foothill College. “The best natives for fall color around here are vine maple and [hybrid] California grape,” Raftery says. Both are appropriate for small gardens.
After its red fall leaves have fallen, creek dogwood shows off its colorful stems. Black oak has the best fall color of the deciduous native oaks, Raftery says.
An unappreciated plant that provides spectacular fall color, as well as habitat and food for wildlife, is pacific poison oak. Not a plant for a small garden or an area near the house or paths, poison oak needs regular monitoring to keep it in check.
As the days get shorter, large trees and shrubs that turn yellow before shedding their leaves include redbud, fremont cottonwood, big-leaf maple, quaking aspen, and spicebush.
In the native garden, fall color also comes from fruits and flowers. Toyon produces profuse red (or yellow) berries that last a long time. Western dogwood, red elderberry, and California wild rose also have showy red fruits.
Closer to the ground, the star of the fall native garden is California fuchsia, a hummingbird magnet. Varieties with profuse scarlet to orange flowers contrast with a haze of thin gray-green to blue-green leaves, and it blooms from July until November or December. To keep it looking good, cut the whole plant down to the ground after frost darkens the leaves and flowers fade.
Yellow flowers to brighten the fall garden, from shortest to tallest, are gum plants, tarweed, California goldenrod, and California sunflower.
| Common Name | Botanical Name |
|---|---|
| big-leaf maple | Acer macrophyllum |
| black oak | Quercus kelloggii |
| California buckeye | Aesculus californica |
| California fuchsia | Epilobium (Zauschneria) spp. |
| California goldenrod | Solidago californica |
| California grape | Vitis californica |
| California sunflower | Helianthus californica |
| California wild rose | Rosa californica |
| creek dogwood | Cornus sericea |
| fremont cottonwood | Populus fremontii |
| gum plants | Grindelia spp. |
| pacific poison oak | Toxicodendron diversilobum |
| quaking aspen | Populus tremuloides |
| red elderberry | Sambucus racemosa |
| spicebush | Calycanthus occidentalis |
| tarweed | Madia elegans |
| toyon | Heteromeles arbutifolia |
| vine maple | Acer circinatum |
| western dogwood | Cornus nuttallii |
| western redbud | Cercis occidentalis |
© 2005 Tanya Kucak