In Search of the Season

With the ongoing spells of hot weather, it seems the fall season may not begin until the winter holiday ornaments have been taken down. Perhaps the delay of cool weather is nature’s revenge upon the retailers who insist on exhibiting Thanksgiving and Christmas items soon after the back-to-school displays come down in early September.

In fact, I may have missed the exact day that autumn began, but once it arrived, I set out exploring. My intent was to discover the sights, colors, smells, sounds and feel of a New England autumn without leaving the area. In this region, where distinctions between the seasons are less obvious than in colder climes, the signs of fall are harder to find. In New England and the Midwest, wind and severe weather limit the high color to about two weeks, whereas we have a period of colorful leaves that lasts from mid-October to late November.

Arborists in this area point to the liquidambar tree, with its lobed, maple-like leaves and hues ranging from yellow to bright red to deep purple, as the most vibrant.

To view liquidambars, which become a brilliant golden yellow, Tim Downey, a city of Ventura arborist, recommends strolling on Student and Campus streets near Ventura College and on Martha Drive near the Ventura County Medical Center. While walking around town, keep an eye out for persimmon trees, which at the end of their fruit-bearing period display leaves of golden bronze.

What causes the leaves to turn such dramatic colors? As the temperature cools, the sugars in the leaf withdraw into the branches where they are stored as starches. These retained starches provide the energy that allows the plant to produce new leaves the following season. As the sugar is withdrawn, the chlorophyll has less of the fuel needed for photosynthesis that produces the green coloring.

The chlorophyll responds by undergoing adaptive chemical changes, reflected in the changing leaf colors.

If the temperature falls precipitously in early autumn or late summer, the sugar may be rapidly withdrawn from the leaves, preventing the gradual color change and resulting in a quick transition from green to brown.

This year’s summer-autumn transition has been perfect, with alterations between hot and cool spells and no extreme cold. The more frequent the hot-cool cycle, the more spectacular the color differentiation.

In the Ojai area of Los Padres National Forest is Sisar Canyon, where bright orange-yellow sycamore foliage incandesces in the filtered light from late October through much of November. There, you can hike along miles of trails and feel the snap and crinkle of fallen leaves underfoot while keeping an ear open for the song of the white-crowned sparrows returning to the area, just like they are returning to New England.

Rick Burgess, rare plant coordinator, and Avis Keedy, of the California Native Plant Society, will lead a fall color hike in Sisar Canyon on Nov. 15. Their plan is to search for the ever-illusive fall colors on a moderate walk along stream beds and riparian woodlands, where cottonwoods, maples, sycamore or alder might be caught in the act of changing.

At Mount Pinos, west of Frazier Park but just inside the county line, black oaks turn their late autumnal best. Look for the most spectacular colors in unaltered drainage areas with tightly closed canopies of deciduous trees. In the creeks and creek beds, smell the intoxicating cinnamon and musky-scented patchouli while looking at the cottonwoods, which transition to amber and gold. Hikes to the higher watersheds will be rewarded with dazzling displays of alders and sycamores.

The National Forest Service even has a hotline, (800) 354-4595, which reports on the state of fall colors all over the country.

But all that glitters is not golden leaf. Fall makes its presence felt locally in the form of gleaming orange pumpkins, luminous blue squashes and apples in burnished reds and greens.

For a crunchy bite of autumn, head east of Ventura on Route 33 to the Ojai Valley, where Rancho Arnez offers its bounty of fresh local apples. Rancho Arnez dates to 1947 when Don Jose de Arnez, a physician, immigrated from Spain and bought 20,000 acres. The barn where the produce is sold was built as a relay station in 1885 so cargo drivers could change mules on the way to Ojai.

Owners Bill and Heidi Rice offer organic, locally grown Jonathan, Granny Smith, red delicious and Fuji apples. When available, they also sell fresh-picked golden supreme, gala and Braeburn apples. Don’t miss their unique assortment of apple ciders including apple cherry and apple pomegranate pressed locally. Take home fresh-baked apple pies or apple nut bread, dried apples and fresh nuts in the shells.

For a more varied selection of fruits and vegetables, stop at one of the local farmers’ markets during this time of bountiful harvest.

In addition to the three regularly scheduled Ventura County markets, the Ojai Farmers’ Market offers a bounty of winter squash, pumpkins, decorative Indian corn and gourds.

The Farmers’ Market in Oxnard provides free recipes to use in preparing the special seasonal foods of autumn. The November and December markets also offer crafts for sale.

Another place to shop for crafts is the Ventura Harbor Village Arts and Crafts Show on Nov. 30, where you will discover New England crafts including soaps, crocheting and woodcarving, while enjoying live music.

So, if you look around, you can enjoy some aspects of a New England autumn right here in the county. My daughter, who attends college in northwest Massachusetts, is happy to send me a leaf of the week, while I’m seeking out local autumnal events and changing trees. I may envy the New Englanders their plethora of fall foliage now, but come January I’ll be quite content to live in a part of the country that is the envy of every snowbound New Englander watching the Rose Parade.

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BE THERE

The National Forest Service fall color hotline is (800) 354-4595.

Books: “Trees of Santa Barbara,” by Katherine Muller, Richard Broder and Will Beittel, $10, at Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens, 1212 Mission Canyon Road.

Rancho Arnez: 9504 Ventura Ave., (Route 33), near Casitas Springs, about six miles north of Ventura city limits. Call (805) 649-2845.

Sisar Canyon: Take Highway 150 (the Ojai-Santa Paula Road) to Sisar Road, and follow it to the trail head. Park and walk through a gate marked “Forest Service.” For more information, call the ranger station at 646-4348.

Fall Foliage Hike in Sisar Canyon: Sponsored by the California Native Plant Society, 9 a.m. Nov. 15. Meet at the junction of Highway 150 and Sisar Road in upper Ojai; bring lunch and water. Call Rick Burgess for more information: (805) 983-1312

Mount Pinos: Take the Frazier Park exit off the Golden State Freeway and follow the signs.

Farmers’ markets

Ventura: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday at the Montgomery Ward parking lot, Main Street and Mills Road.

8:30 a.m. Saturday, in the city parking lot at Santa Clara and Palm streets.

Thousand Oaks: 3-6:30 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot east of The Oaks mall on Hillcrest Drive.

Ojai: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays, 300 E. Matilija St.

Oxnard: 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursdays, Plaza Park, West 5th Street between B and C streets.

Arts and Crafts Show: Nov. 30, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at Ventura Harbor Village on Spinnaker Drive.