Variations in Foliage

Soil condition

Here’s a color that occurs when the soil is saturated with water. This picture was taken on the east side of Black Hill March 12, 2000. Water was running along the surface of the ground:

Purplish leaf color can also be caused by soil nutrients. For example, there is a quarter of an acre in Los Osos Oak Reserve where the humming bird sage and poison oak turn purple in the fall.