I live in an area that makes my hour-long commute pure delight for a month in the fall. Folks come from all over the world to see northern New England in autumn. That said, there are plants that you can add to your yard that will give you riotous fall color in your area. Right now there is a poster over on the shrubs forum from the Bay Area who has posted some of the same shrubs and small trees that show color here such as Fothergilla, Japanese maples, Itea, blueberries, and Enkianthus among others. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4983162/wonderful-fall-color-shrubs?n=15 http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4983152/my-wonderful-disanthus-cercidifolius?n=10 if she can grow them, there is a reasonable chance that you can, though Northern California covers a quite broad swath. I would check out plantings at relatively local arboretums, colleges, and wealthier neighborhoods that have particularly nice plantings to see what might work for you. Plants you don't know may be IDed on the Name that Plant Forum if you can take good photos. You may also find some good info on this blog, Form and Foliage, whose author is perhaps Sonoma County, but in the northern half of CA regardless. I know I have seen some lovely foliage posted by its author, so it might be worth looking around there. Here are my Fothergilla from earlier this month.

@Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A Dave, I hate to disagree with you, but that's obviously Victoria amazonica. I'm just surprised it's growing out of water...and it seems to be a lot hardier than the references state. And I didn't realize it had such stout stem. And it's more tall and upright than any water lily has a right to be. And the leaves are much smaller. And pointier. And more numerous. And they should be peltate. And I don't see any thorns. Or a raised leaf rim. But other than that, it really matches V. amazonica :P P.S. I really don't see how they can claim a leaf of V. amazonica will support a human's weight. Obviously they're too small (the leaves, not the humans).

" I live in central Texas and miss the brilliant red and orange leaves from up north. The spot also gets full sun so it needs to stand up to extreme Texas summers "

Our Fall has been the worst for Asynchronous turning of colors that I can remember. Some, mostly maples, started coloring at the top back in August and by October were bare at the top and somewhat coloring/browning at the bottom of the crown. A Linden tree across the street was still green with some browning as late as mid-October and never did color after a windy day removed the half dead, crispy leaves by evening. The Ash were spotty but done by early Sept. Same for the poplar. What do I prefer? Well, we've had years where good growing conditions then when the freezes align perfectly with most trees turning all the same time. That's my favorite but that not always the norm, with a frequency of such an orchestrated event every 3-5 years. But most seasons we do have glorious Fall with good change of colors, even if not always perfect. In general, I love the Fall season most of all, with sunny days, 60's to 70's with cooler nights and the bugs are gone! It's a good time to do whatever you do out in the woods and even the hornets are dormant. ;-)