turn scarlet

But all kinds of trees across the Golden State turn scarlet, orange and bronze each fall, particularly in the eastern parts.

So far leaves here have yet to turn scarlet and acorns have failed to clatter on car roofs.

“Sairy told me that in the fall all those maple trees turn scarlet red, and all those red leaves look like a million bazillion rubies dangling on the trees. And she said that now, in the summer, right after a rain, all those leaves look like a bazillion shimmery emeralds, and in the winter, after an ice storm, it looks like a bazillion gazillion sparkly diamonds in the trees.”

“In dry years, the leaves of the beech and the hickory and some of the oaks turn scarlet and orange and bright yellow before they fall. . . . The sunlight striking down through these layers of color turns the very air golden. I don’t believe I have been as drunk on good bourbon as I have gotten on crisp December air.”

But it is in the next few weeks that the Japanese maple is its most strikingly handsome, when the leaves turn scarlet, orange or golden, or a combination of all three, depending on the variety.