SCCAS Featured Pet
FEATURED COLUMNIST
Autumn Color From Deciduous Foliage
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On the Runway: Fifi O’hara, Miss Fame, and Ru Paul
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s your barn-yard boring? Coop a little crusty? Downs a bit dusty? Well you can turn “legs” and “dairy” into LEGENDARY with these three fancy roosters! Fifi O’hara (A273355), Miss Fame (A273356), and the infamous Ru Paul (A273354) are ready to strut their silkie feathers down your runway. It has been a long few months for these roosters, but they are ready to sing their way into your heart. They came to SCCAS when their family had to evacuate due to the CZU Lighting Fire and they are now available for adoption because they were not able to return home. These three are ready to Cock-a-doodle-do this adoption thang, so come to the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter to take these beautiful roosters home today! Adoptions are first come, first served! Please view available animals on our website and then visit the Shelter to turn in your application. All adoptions require proof of home ownership or landlord approval. Please have this information prepared. If an animal is in Foster Care, please bring in your adoption application and schedule an appointment to meet the animal. Call 831-454-7200 x0 during business hours or visit www.scanimalshelter.org for more information! n ••• Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter’s full-service, open-admission shelter: Santa Cruz Location (Public Entrance): 1001 Rodriguez St., Santa Cruz, 95062 Hours: Daily 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Watsonville Location: CURRENTLY CLOSED 580 Airport Blvd, Watsonville, CA 95076 SCCAS Main line: 831-454-7200. Animal Control: 831-454-7227. After-Hours Emergency: 831-471-1182 • After Hours: jillian.ganley@santacruzcounty.us
By Tony Tomeo
utumn does not get cool enough locally to prevent everything from blooming. A few plants can bloom sporadically all year except only during the coolest part of winter. A few plants naturally bloom in autumn. Cool season annuals begin blooming before warm season annuals finish. Flowers can potentially provide plenty of autumn color if necessary. A mild climate can be a major advantage. It can also be a disadvantage. Minimal chill causes deciduous foliage to start to get messy before it starts to get colorful. Some deciduous plants shed completely before getting chilled enough to develop appealing autumn color. A few others do not even get cool enough to defoliate completely. They instead retain their shabby old foliage through winter until new foliage replaces it in spring. Nonetheless, several adaptable deciduous plants get sufficient chill to develop impressive autumn color here. Sweetgum, Chinese pistache, flowering pear and ginkgo are likely the four best deciduous trees for autumn color locally. Sweetgum and Chinese pistache produce the most impressive ranges of vibrant colors. Flowering pear is comparable, but with less yellow, and more rich deep burgundy red. Ginkgo lacks such range of color, but develops the brightest and clearest yellow autumn color. Boston ivy, crape myrtle and persimmon get about as colorful as sweetgum, even if incidentally to their primary duties. Crape myrtle is popular for its abundant
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Deciduous foliage can get delightfully colorful.
and richly colorful bloom in summer. Persimmon is a fruit tree. Boston ivy obscures graffiti and helps muffle sound on freeway soundwalls. Cottonwood and black walnut turn bright yellow, but in the wild rather than in refined gardens. Even for the locally mild climate, there are plenty of deciduous plants that provide foliar autumn color. Trees are the most familiar. Vines and shrubbery are also popular. Because this mild climate is marginal for some of them, color is likely to be variable from year to year. Unfortunately, some that perform satisfactorily for inland locations may perform less satisfactorily in coastal conditions. ••• Ginkgo here autumn chill is minimal, the best and brightest yellow autumn color is that of the ginkgo, Ginkgo biloba. Some know it at the maidenhair tree. Except for older trees that produce messy and stinky fruit, it is a notably clean tree. Perhaps it is too clean. It drops nothing all year, but can defoliate too soon once it develops it striking autumn color. Minimal chill actually prolongs the process. Ginkgo is dioecious, with separate genders. Modern cultivars for landscapes are male, so produce Ginkgo is turning clear no obnoxious fruit. bright yellow. Female cultivars that produce nuts and fruits are not commonly available in nurseries locally. (As objectionable as their aroma is, the nuts and fruits are edible.) Some people may be allergic to the pollen of mature male trees. Many mature trees predate modern cultivars. Trees are somewhat slender and perhaps sparse while young. They develop a broader canopy as they age. Trees can get more than fifty feet tall, with sculpturally irregular branch structure. Foliar venation radiates outward from the petioles. Leaves, which are about two or three inches long, therefore have the shape of fishtails. Leaves on current season stems are cloven into paired lobes. n ••• Horticulturist Tony Tomeo can be contacted at tonytomeo.com.
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www.tpgonlinedaily.com Aptos Times / November 1st 2020 / 31
