Autumn is my favorite season.
She returns like a long-lost lover: cool at first, but warming to the touch and more beautiful than I remember.
Her true colors are just starting to show; bright yellows, deepening into burnished gold with hints here and there of passionate red.
The harvest is well underway and the perfume of ripening grapes permeates parts of the valley. The talk is of a very good vintage. 
We’re trying to keep up on who’s crushing, but it’s hard because there’s no central data base. We check frequently with our friends and send guests accordingly.
Our own gardens are splendid in Autumn. Mature flowers and shrubs show off their beauty shamelessly, knowing after December, Winter will be just around the corner.
Nilda and Gloria have outdone themselves this year. Never before have we had such variety and color.
The Begonias pictured here are 5 feet tall! They share the private garden of the Garden Room with a Japanese Maple which has tripled in size over the last two years.
Our Hydrangias have faded to lovely lavender shades before deepening to their fall reds.
Because we enjoy a “Marine climate” due to our proximity to San Francisco Bay, our Fall is both gentle and long. October is its beginning with leaves just starting to turn.
November will bring shorter days and even cooler nights and those trees which haven’t turned color will be in full fall regalia.
Our vineyards will be bare of grapes, but not leaves. Here the show will be in full form with yellows and oranges and the ocassional red.
Frequently the rains will have begun, quickly turning our hills from “California Gold” to lovely shades of green.
November gives way to a December which is Winter in name alone. The temperatures are still mild and even our roses continue to bloom.
No wonder Autumn comes back. She knows she’s always welcome and can stay as long as she’d like.
Just like you.
