The California Seasons
Real seasons, as opposed to calendar ones, are not necessarily equal. In the northeast, for example, winter lasts about five months, spring about one or two months, summer three or four, and fall one or two.
By New England standards, lowland California has no winter, about six months of spring and six months of summer, the last month or two of which you might or might not see fit to call a sort of lackluster fall.
Another, maybe more accurate way of looking at it is that we have only two seasons: a cool wet season from about November to March, and a warm-dry season the rest of the year.
Almost anywhere you may live in the north-temperate world, you can pretty much always tell what season of the year it is by looking out the window.
Thoreau discovered that by noting the stage of bloom of the various plants in his neighborhood, and other clues in the weather, the bird life etc, he could determine within a few days the correct date. The same can be done here in California just as reliably, but it takes practice and a fairly rich natural environment to do it very well. The following breakdown of the California year into six “seasons” is the level at which most people, with a little practice, should be able to tell the difference from one to the next.
- November and December—major rain renews the world, and new grass and cold nights come. Late stage fall color and ripe fruit. Winter birds arrive in force. Manzanitas bloom—the earliest natives.
- January and February—rain and frosty nights. Hills fresh and green, but nothing much yet bolting. Early-season plants in flower including mustard, and first early spring migrants.
- March and April—wildflower peak. Neotropical migrants arriving. Winter birds leaving. Wind from north. Time to plant summer flowers and vegetables.
- May and June—drying hills and dawn chorus and peak of nesting. Winds shift from onshore to offshore. Last chance to plant summer flowers and vegetables.
- July and August—high summer. Birds are quiet. Fog at coast. All dry, and “fall color” showing in poison oak and buckeyes and Ribes californicum, etc. Tropicals happy at least.
- September and October—Indian summer; warmest and sunniest months on coast. Tropical garden plants flourish briefly. Harvest of acorns and lots of fruit. Big fall migration. Finally get respite of wind. Early fall colors in garden.
- November and December—Time to plant bulbs and trees and native seeds and winter flowers and vegetables; Mediterranean grasses also want to sprout now. Latest natives bloom (Ericameria etc.)
Still, in some ways, the solar-based calendar of four equal seasons has some validity even here, since photoperiod determines so many aspects of plant and animal life. For us, the manifestations include:
- 21 December (winter solstice)—days begin to lengthen, new grass grows and the first early plants start to flower, more and more coming into bloom every week. Wintering birds put on fat to prepare for migration north. Mediterranean grasses will no longer germinate
- 21 March (vernal equinox)—peak of flowering season for native plants. Time to start summer flowers and vegetables, i.e. those with tropical origins. Birds start nesting in earnest, neotropical migrants arrive and the dawn chorus becomes unignorable. Wintering birds soon depart for the north.
- 21 June (summer solstice)—days begin to shorten. Birds become quiet; few or no new broods are started; fledgelings disperse; migratory shorebirds start drifting back south. Many kinds of fruits ripen. Too late now to start tropical (summer) annuals.
- 21 September (autumnal equinox)—Californian and Mediterranean annuals ready to germinate; time to plant Mediterranean and winter flowers and vegetables. Fall migration goes into high gear; wintering birds arrive. More fruits, nuts, etc. ripen; leaves of deciduous trees start to color and fall.
The fact is that the California year is a combination of at least two kinds of “seasons”: the solar one and the meteorological (wet/dry) one.
