The only fall color I'll see this year

We don't have much fall color in Davis. In fact, if it weren't for the occasional pop of red, orange or yellow from maples, pistaches, ginkgos and the like, we probably wouldn't have any. 

Things are different in Mount Shasta, 210 miles to the north of Davis, where my mother-in-law lives. There's plenty of color among the conifers. We spent a few days in Mount Shasta last week, and after visiting Dave Egbert's fabulous off-the-grid garden 40 miles south, I got a chance to check out my favorite grove of black oaks (Quercus kelloggii) on the road from Mount Shasta to Castle Lake. 

This is the largest stand of black oaks I know. It's as beautiful in the summer as it is in the winter, but my favorite season is autumn when the leaves turn a vibrant orange-yellow. What a feast for weary eyes, no matter where you look. In fact, the next time my blood pressure is high when I'm in the doctor's office, I'll recall these images in my mind before the doctor's assistant repeats the reading. I bet my blood pressure will have dropped 20 points.

Looks great in black and white, too!

The California black oak (Quercus kelloggii) is native to the foothills and lower mountains of California and western Oregon. It's found from the Cascade Range through the Sierra Nevada and the various coast and traverse ranges all the way down to San Diego County. According to Wikipedia, large specimens “may exceed 36 m (118 ft) in height and 1.6 m (5.2 ft) diameter.”

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