October 24th, 2018

Got out at 8:00 am for a walk around the Arboretum. Here's some of the things I saw. Below are some mushrooms located near Ayres Hall. These are most probably some sort of Agaricus. Agaricus bisporus is the common table or 'button' mushroom, but this one smelled kind of like chlorine or phenol, so it's probably Agaricus xanthodermus, a mushroom that, if you are able to get past the hideous smell that gets worse when you cook it, can cause projectile vomiting and diarrhea in a percentage of the people who eat it. 

In the South African section, just north, northwest of the Kiosk, I found this flower, probably a Crinum hybrid. It is one off the last things blooming in this section which just a week or two ago was dotted with dozens and dozens of white and pink Amaryllis blooms.

Located just east of the 'Roots and Shoots' building is this Ceiba speciosa. It's just listed on our database as a generic Chorisia speciosa (the old name for Ceiba speciosa).

After taking a pic of the Floss silk tree I started down the dirt road that wanders around the western edge of the Arboretum. This path winds you through the Chinese-North American tree collection which is where, if you are going to be looking for fall color here, you want to be.

Right now there isn't much color, but about a week ago we had about a 1/2 inch or more of colder rain and that usually starts the color change. If all goes well and we don't have too many heat waves between now and then, mid-November should be a good time to come to see the start of our fall leaf-color season.

The Chinese-North American collection. 

This is probably the least travelled part of the Arboretum but it can be the most beautiful at times. It is densely forested with trees like Quercus alba, the white oak native to North America, Zelkova serrata from China, a relative of Ulmus parvifolia the Chinese elm that turns an orange burgundy in the fall, and Toxicodendron succedaneum, one of the plants used to produce lacquer in southeast asia and wax in Japan. A word of caution, the substance contained in just about all parts of Toxicodendron succedaneum is urushiol, the active ingredient in poison oak and poison ivy, both close relatives of this plant.

Toxicodendron succedaneum (pic taken mid-November 2015)

Here is a compilation of fall color photos taken at various times here at the Arboretum over the last several years. 

Ceiba speciosa with carpet of dropped petals coating the ground beneath. 

A tree can have two 'shadows'; one from the light and one from it's petals, falling to the ground. There are particularly fine displays of petal carpets going on now thanks to the efforts of this and other Ceiba speciosa trees that dot the Arboretum.

Left: Pampas grass, Right: Mexican sage. 

The morning haze was particularly photogenic this morning as is evidenced by this shot next to the Queen Anne cottage.

Nothing completes this picture of gentility more than a great big red dragon skimming your lake as you sip Arnold Palmers and listen to the peacocks wail.

On closer inspection you see the lantern team putting some final touches on big red.

On the road going from the Hugo Reid adobe to the Bauer lawn, a panda tries to catch some zzzz's; however the panda's family seems to looks on in displeasure at their horizontal deportment.

The Ceiba speciosa on the gateway fountain lawn are just about all in bloom -there salute to the Dodgers winning the pennant, now if they could only develop a blue flowered version of this tree.

And finally, the peacocks have received an honor long in coming - a shrine devoted solely to them. What has amazed me about this huge and spectacularly colored lantern is that it did not budge an inch during the recent windstorms here -a credit to the solid and beautiful workmanship of the company that has built them. I am amazed at the beauty of these lanterns, so I hope, if you are reading this, you buy a ticket and enjoy the show.