Why Don’t Evergreen Trees Lose Leaves and Change Color?

Coastal Redwood, El Dorado Hills (9/7/17) John Poimiroo

Actually, they do.  It just doesn’t happen all at once.

Evergreen trees have both broad leafs and needles. Madrone, magnolia and photinia are examples of broadleaved evergreens, while pine, fir cedar, spruce, redwood have needled leaves.

Evergreen needles can last anywhere from a year to 20 years, but eventually they are replaced by new leaves. When that happens, the old needles turn color and fall, but not all together, and not as dramatically as deciduous trees (e.g., maple, oak, dogwood, alder, birch).

The reason needles are green is that they are full of chlorophyll which photosynthesizes sunlight into food for the tree and reflects green light waves, making the needles look green.

Needles, just like deciduous leaves, contain carotenoid and anthocyanin pigments. You just don’t see them until the green chlorophyll stops being produced. Once that happens, hidden carotenoids (yellow, orange and brown) emerge, as is seen in the above photograph. Additionally, red, blue and purple Anthocyanins – produced in autumn from the combination of bright light and and excess sugars in the leaf cells – also emerge once the chlorophyll subsides. Yes, even evergreen leaves change color… eventually.

Evergreen trees tend to carry needles in snowy regions. A waxy coating on needles along with their narrow shape, allows them to hold water better, keeps water from freezing inside the needle (which would otherwise destroy the leaf), prevents snow from weighing down and breaking evergreen branches, and sustains the production (though slowed) of chlorophyll through winter. Whereas, broadleaved deciduous trees would be damaged if they kept producing chlorophyll and didn’t drop their leaves.

Evergreen trees do lose their leaves and the leaves do change color. It just isn’t as spectacular.

 

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Record-Breaking Heat: Is Autumn Even Close?

Quaking Aspen, Agate Bay, North Lake Tahoe (9/4/17) John Poimiroo

With California experiencing record-breaking temperatures statewide this past week (Death Valley recorded 129.72 degrees – tying its previous record), one has to wonder whether all that hot air will delay the appearance of fall color.

There was certainly little of it to be seen in the Northern Sierra this past weekend. On a getaway at North Lake Tahoe, only a few spots of color could be found.

So, I called Parcher’s Resort at 9,290′ near South Lake in Bishop Creek Canyon (Inyo County), which is about the highest and earliest reporting location in our network of color spotters. The desk clerk at Parchers (Jared Smith was out fishing, lucky guy) said “just tiny splotches of yellow” can be seen in the aspen groves that surround the resort and along South Lake Road.

As can be seen in this photo, the aspen appear to be healthy and vibrant. Last winter’s heavy snowfall has kept them nourished. So, when they do begin turning lime, yellow, orange, pink and red, the show should be long-lasting and brilliant.

Soon, the hot days of summer will vanish and the golden days of autumn will be here.

Bishop Creek Canyon – Just Starting

June Lake – Just Starting

Ebbett’s Pass – Just Starting

Lake Tahoe – Just Starting

Shasta Cascade – Just Starting

Big Bear/So. Calif – Just Starting

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Why Do Trees Lose Their Leaves?

Snowcreek (11/2/15) Alicia Vennos

It’s survival not just of the fittest, but of the wisest.

Deciduous trees drop their leaves in order to survive.  As days grow shorter and colder, deciduous trees shut down veins and capillaries (that carry water and nutrients) with a barrier of cells that form at the leaf’s stem.

Called “abscission” cells, the barrier prevents the leaf from being nourished. Eventually, like scissors, the abscission cells close the connection between leaf and branch and the leaf falls.

Had the leaves remained on branches, the leaves would have continued to drink and, once temperatures drop to freezing, the water in the tree’s veins would freeze, killing the tree.

Further, with leaves fallen, bare branches are able to carry what little snow collects on them, protecting them from being broken under the weight of the snow. So, by cutting off their food supply (leaves), deciduous trees survive winter.

The fallen leaves continue to benefit the tree through winter, spring and summer by creating a humus on the forest floor that insulates roots from winter cold and summer heat, collects dew and rainfall, and decomposes to enrich the soil and nurture life.

It’s a cycle of survival, planned wisely.

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Why Do Leaves Change Color?

Chlorophyll Molecule (Wikipedia)

Leaves on deciduous trees change color in autumn from green to various hues of lime, yellow, gold, orange, red and brown because of a combination of shorter days and colder temperatures.

Throughout spring and summer, green chlorophyll (which allows trees to absorb sunlight and produce nutrients) is made and replaced constantly. However, as days grow shorter, “cells near the juncture of the leaf and stem divide rapidly but do not expand,” reports Accuweather.com, “This action of the cells form a layer called the abscission layer. The abscission layer then blocks the transportation of materials from the leaf to the branch and from the roots to the leaves. As Chlorophyll is blocked from the leaves, it disappears completely from them.”

That’s when vivid yellow xanthophylls, orange carotenoids and red and purple anthocyanins emerge.

Orange is found in leaves with lots of beta-carotene, a compound that absorbs blue and green light and reflects yellow and red light, giving the leaves their orange color.

Yellow comes from Xanthophylls and Flavonols that reflect yellow light. Xanthophylls are compounds and Flavonols are proteins.  They’re what give egg yolks their color.

Though always present in the leaves, Carotenoids and Xanthophylls are not visible until Chlorophyll production slows.

Red comes from the Anthocyanin compound. It protects the leaf in autumn, prolonging its life. Anthocyanins are pigments manufactured from the sugars trapped in the leaf, giving term to the expression that the leaves are sugaring up.

The best fall color occurs when days are warm and nights are clear and cold. California’s cloudless skies and extreme range of elevations (sea level to 14,000′) provide ideal conditions for the development of consistently vivid fall color, as seen in these reports.

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Darrell Sano Scores Several Firsts

Sunol Regional Wilderness (8/20/17) Darrell Sano

Color spotter Darrell Sano (dksfoto.smugmug.com) began his search for fall color “a bit early this year,” by hiking into the Sunol Regional Wilderness and along Alameda Creek this past Sunday, where he saw the first reported “hints of fall color.”

Sunol Regional Wilderness (8/20/17) Darrell Sano

Sunol Regional Wilderness (8/20/17) Darrell Sano

Darrell said the display wasn’t obvious. He had to search for it and hiked “off the trail to really see it.” Nevertheless, despite that temperatures were pushing 90 degrees, Darrell said he “still could sense the change of light,” and that autumn was approaching.

Should you visit this preserve in San Francisco’s east bay, you’ll find alder, willow and sycamore, though mostly evergreen coastal live oak and gray pine, plus blue oak, elderberry, madrone and … rattlesnakes.

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, Sunol Regional Wilderness (8/20/17) Darrell Sano

Sunol Regional Wilderness (8/20/17) Darrell Sano

The well-fed snake seen in this photograph (far left) crossed a shaded trail toward Darrell.

Congratulations to Darrell who scores several color spotter firsts: the first to file a report in 2017, the first to report from the Sunol Regional Wilderness and the first to set a record for the hundred yard dash.
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Solar Eclipse – Leaves As Pinhole Lenses

The sun’s rays passed through blue oak leaves today to cast crescent images of the solar eclipse.

Today’s solar eclipse was seen by millions across America. Most looked up while wearing protective solar eclipse glasses, though many others created pinhole cameras to watch the moon block out all or part of the sun.

Another way to see the eclipse was to stand beneath trees and look down. Light passing through small openings between leaves similarly cast a crescent reflection of the sun on the ground, as seen in these photos.

Solar eclipse as sunlight passes through tree leaves.

Acorns and leaves have been falling as autumn approaches.

 

 

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Same Website: New Look & Functionality

If you’re a regular to CaliforniaFallColor.com, it probably took a little longer for this website to upload today. That’s because we’ve been making some changes to it.

The colors are the same. We wouldn’t change that, considering how many of you have complimented its orange and black theme. Though, behind what you see there’s a lot that’s new.

The site has a better search tool (the magnifying glass atop the page). As you type, suggested stories will drop down, making it faster to find articles about particular places or plants.

We’ve kept our archive of past reports, though it is now located to the right side. Use it to research where and when to go to see peak color (Peak color is so dependable here that you can reliably visit the same week, year to year).

Also retained are the Fall Color Map and weather forecast. Right now, the map is showing dark green leaves, but as soon as reports arrive, lime, yellow, orange, red and brown leaves will appear. As for the forecast, we’ve chosen to report what’s happening at Mammoth Lakes in the Eastern Sierra, as that station is nearest to where fall color will appear first.

Links to blogs, articles and sites with fall color reports are also found on the right side of the page. As we find more current links, they’re updated. And, for ease of knowing what’s inside any article, keywords are now shown above headlines.

The most obvious change is the new slider atop the page.  For years, California Fall Color displayed Greg Newbry’s great shot of June Lake.  Over the years, it attracted a lot of interest in California’s autumn. However, we wanted to say more about what makes California Fall Color different.

So, the six photos selected for the slider were picked for what they represent about California Fall Color, not just because they’re great photos from great photographers, which they are.

The slider begins with a spectacular photograph of sunset at North Lake by Elliot McGucken, taken on the last day of September in 2016. Elliot is the only photographer with two images in the slider (a coincidence, really).

His photograph embodies what sets California Fall Color apart… the combination of fall color and grand landscapes. Other areas in North America have beautiful fall foliage and scenery, but few compare to California’s landscape. Elsewhere, autumn color descends by latitude across the continent, whereas in California it drops by elevation, at a rate of about 500′ a week. Because California’s terrain varies from over 14,000′ in elevation to below sea level, the show lasts from September to December.

This downward progression is clearly evident in Elliot McGucken’s shot where aspen are nearly past peak at tree line (10,000′) and near to full peak at lake level  (9,255′).  That’s 745 ft. of color in one image.

The second slider photo was taken in Lundy Canyon (Mono County) by Curtis Kautzer. It shows a couple enjoying the scene, during a break from hiking.

In choosing this photo, we encourage everyone to venture into the woods for the best California Fall Color experience. We say this even though most of California’s autumn show can be seen without ever getting out of your car.

The third slider shows a sunset at Lake Gregory (Crestline, San Bernardino Mountains) by Alena Nicholas. This photo expresses that beautiful fall color is not limited to any given area of California. It’s nearby, everywhere. You just have to know where it’s peaking.

Lots of autumn color can be seen in Southern California’s mountains. Because they do not have the extreme elevation change, like the Eastern Sierra where eight weeks of peak color can be seen, Southern California’s mountain ranges peak over a shorter period. However, their aspen, bigleaf maple, black oak, willows and spectacular sunsets are glorious.

Great fall color is also found in the Southern Sierra, Central Sierra, at Lake Tahoe, the Northern Sierra, Salinas Valley, Redwood Highway and the Shasta Cascade.

“Chicken of the Woods,” a mushroom, is one of a number of colorful and interesting plants found in the Shasta Cascade (the vast northeast corner of California). Others include fiery orange-red Indian rhubarb, which decorates the banks of streams in Plumas County.

Gabriel Leete’s photo was selected for the slider because it teaches us to look down not just up, when searching for fall color. Some of the most remarkable autumn discoveries are seen on or near the ground.

Our fifth slider is Elliot McGucken’s shot of the cabin in the woods in the Hope Valley (Carson Pass – Hwy 88). We chose it to illustrate the variety of character to be seen in our woods, from settler’s cabins, to Spanish adobe homes, to white gothic steeples set against orange, gold and red.

Open your mind to California Fall Color and you’ll find orderly rows of burgundy, orange and yellow vines flanked by golden boulevards leading to tasting rooms.

California’s Mediterranean climate allows for the cultivation of colorful species not seen anywhere else on the continent and fills our cities with color-laden urban forests. Our unusual climate is why we claim California has the most diverse show of fall color on the continent.

The last of the photos we chose for the slider is Josh Wray’s image of paddle boarders on Parker Lake near Mammoth Lakes. It illustrates that Californians like to do things differently.

These ladies were out for an adventure and carried their boards on an exhilarating hike up to this High Sierra lake then paddled upon it, surrounded by sawtooth peaks and brilliant gold reflections. It took a bit of effort, but boy was the experience worth it!

We hope you enjoy using our “new and improved” site. As always, if you’d like to comment, click on the headline to open the comment section.

See you in autumn, dude. 

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Sierra Primed For Fall

North Lake (6/26/17) Alena Nicholas

Summer has just begun, but all indications are that the Sierra Nevada are now primed for a spectacular autumn.

Convict Lake (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Virginia Lakes (6/17) Alena Nicholas

South Lake (6/17) Alena Nicholas

South Lake (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Rush Creek (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Rush Creek (6/17) Alena Nicholas

June Lake (6/17) Alena Nicholas

June Lake (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Gull Lake (6/17) Alena Nicholas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alena Nicholas spent the past week touring the east and west sides of the central Sierra, returning with these beautiful images. She said all the lakes were “pretty much full to capacity” with locals reporting the lakes are as high as they can remember them ever being. Even Grant Lake (in Mono County near June Lake) is full. Alena says the last time she saw it, it was not much more than a stream of water.

Rush Creek (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Rush Creek (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Rush Creek (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Creeks have become mini rivers in places where Alena waded, previously. Now, they’re so full its too unsafe to enter them.

Quaking Aspen (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Rush Creek (6/17) Alena Nicholas

North Lake Creek (6/17) Alena Nicholas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The aspen I’ve seen on springtime trips into the Sierra, and those which Alena captured, are healthy and green with no indication of black spot fungus. Though she also noted several aspen whose branches have been bent or snapped branches from heavy snows. This is particularly evident “along Silver Lake, and up below Sabrina Lake” where “a few of the Aspens seemed to have lost their leaves,” perhaps from broken branches.

Bishop Creek Meadow (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Western Blue Flag iris, Rush Creek (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Grant Lake (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Western Tiger Swallowtail and willow (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Mule Deer, Rush Creek Meadows (6/17) Alena Nicholas

Mule Deer, Rush Creek Meadows (6/17) Alena Nicholas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alena reports meadows as being lush green and full of wildflowers and wildlife. At higher elevations, like Virginia Lakes, there’s still a good amount of snow melting with waterfalls everywhere. I returned from the east coast this past week, flying over the snowcapped Sierra which looked more like they do in March, than June.

Mono Lake (6/17) Alena Nicholas

What does this all mean for fall color spotters, leaf peepers and photographers? In past years when there’s been a lot of water, the autumn show seems to start slightly later (a few days to a week) and last longer. That’s because the leaves are healthier and less likely to dry out and drop sooner.

As for the intensity of the color, that all depends on autumn weather.  As, once days begin to shorten and trees stop producing chlorophyll, as long as the days remain warm and the nights cold (clear skies), autumn color should be intense and vibrant.

Until then, let’s enjoy California’s 8-month spring (wildflowers began appearing in the Deserts in February and continue to bloom at increasingly higher elevations through September).

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Spring Aspen Report

Quaking Aspen, Agate Bay (6/10/17) John Poimiroo

With only a week of springtime left in 2017, a quick trip to Lake Tahoe found some quaking aspen bent by this past winter’s heavy snowfall, but few signs of black leaf spot fungus.

The two aspen, seen above, were bent to more than a 90-degree angle from snow drifts that piled as high as the house. Prior to this past winter’s snow, the aspen were as straight and as tall as those to their left.

Such phenomena are often seen in aspen groves and I’ve often wondered how the trees got so distorted. Now I know. It’s the snow.

Fortunately, most aspen leaves are deeply green and healthy. Black leaf spot develops when it rains a lot in late spring and early summer, followed by a week of warm temperatures.

A day after the photo was taken, a light dusting of snow fell down to 4,500′ in elevation. This week, temperatures have risen.  So, the conditions are such that black leaf spot could develop. Let’s hope not.

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New Year Surprise

Cottonwood, Whitney Portal Rd, Lone Pine (12/23/16) Clayton Peoples

My New Year resolution has been fulfilled and color spotter Clayton Peoples made it possible.

I’d resolved to post in January and accomplish the resolution today with Clayton’s report from the Alabama Hills in the Eastern Sierra, west of Lone Pine, where (just before Christmas) he was surprised to find one of his favorite cottonwoods, “still hanging on to its fall-hued, honey/gold leaves.”

Clayton had only seen the tree in summer, previously. So, he was delighted to see it in its fall coat of golden glory.

If you’re driving north on US 395 to Mammoth Mountain to carve S-turns in its powder, you’ll find it by taking a detour onto the Whitney Portal Rd.

It’s visible behind the “face” (painted rock along the Whitney Portal Rd) which locals dubbed “Brenda” before it received a KISS-themed makeover (C’mon folks, there’s no way we mortals can improve upon nature).  Mt. Whitney is seen in the background.

Now, if only losing 20 pounds were as easy.

Whitney Portal – Past Peak – YOU MISSED IT!

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