November Premieres

Southern California’s most colorful native trees are quaking aspen, black oak, Western sycamore, Frémont cottonwood and California black walnut. Of them, aspen are past peak, black oak are nearly past peak, and the others wait until November to premiere.

Los Angeles County color spotter Kathy Jonokuchi loves photographing local wild places and beings … the natural kind.

She has delighted readers with her images of Southern California’s naturalized parrots, the Nanday conures, has told stories of fire recovery in the Southland, and taken us to movie locations where fall color is featured.

On Friday, she explored Malibu Creek State Park where Valley oak (Quercus lobata) and California black walnut (Juglans hindsii) are blushing in anticipation of their roles in SoCal’s autumn feature. Too, she agreed that “November sunsets are pretty spectacular.”