The conspicuous Floss Silk Tree has flowers like hibiscuses

The Floss Silk Tree, a conspicuous “autumn bloomer” here and there around San Diego, has been showing off its pinkish or purplish, hibiscus-like flowers for at least a month now. The broad, heavy trunks of this South American import, studded with fat, cone-shaped spines makes it easy to identify.

The Tawny Hues of the Black Oak Tree are just beginning to highlight the slopes of San Diego County’s higher mountains. Named for the dark coloring of its bark, especially when wet, the black oak is the only deciduous oak native to the county. Associating with pines, firs, cedars, various evergreen oaks, and occasionally chaparral, the black oak lends a true autumn coloring to the Cuyamaca, Laguna, and Palomar mountains.

The Full Moon rises majestically in the east at around 5:50pm on Wednesday, October 20, some 15 minutes before the time of sunset. If the skies are clear, this is a perfect time to take a late afternoon walk and enjoy some of the last “Indian summer” weather we’re likely to experience before winter’s slight chill sets in. Just make sure you have an open vista toward the eastern sky in order to see the moon. Some folk names for October full moons include “blood moon,” “shedding moon,” “falling-leaf moon,” and “moon of the changing season.”

The above comes from the Outdoors listings in the Reader compiled by Jerry Schad, author of Afoot & Afield in San Diego County. Schad died in 2011. Planet information from SkyandTelescope.org.