This has been an interesting thread to follow. We have our share of brown in the summer months but then you take in to consideration that the Salinas valley (the next valley over from the Sacramento/San Joaquin valley aka the big valley) is known as the salad bowl of the world. http://www.californiabountiful.com/features/article.aspx?arID=563
And green...you want green. Green that even those of the southeast can't relate to.....a little further north we have Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity Counties more commonly called the Emerald Triangle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Triangle Many of you will probably be surprised to learn that marijuana is California's #1 cash crop.... http://norml.org/legal/item/california-top-10-cash-crops
OK, the true ever green of California that can be found no where else in the world.....the California redwoods. http://www.google.com/imgres?q=California+redwoods&um=1&sa=N&rlz=1R2ADRA_enUS478&biw=1280&bih=560&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=zGtvXom6nt21UM:&imgrefurl=http://www.thegreenhead.com/2007/04/california-redwood-giant-sequoia-coast-redwood.php&docid=BrBcjdOtZf_tbM&imgurl=http://www.thegreenhead.com/imgs/california-redwood-2.jpg&w=500&h=500&ei=oY0sUsPFEqSYiQKVp4EI&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=265&page=1&tbnh=136&tbnw=140&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:100&tx=86&ty=67
So you see, California is green year around. It just depends on what shade of green you're looking for and where...in this beautiful state...you're looking.
Seriously Alan.....as a native Californian I did not take any offense or issue with your original post. I do believe that you came the wrong year (after years of drought winters) and the wrong time of year. And, for the first time in my 62 years in this state, we finally have more people moving out of this state than we have moving in. I only hope this trend continues. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Californias-Population-Moving-Out-182914961.html
So come visit.....in the spring if you want total green. See the redwoods, the Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, the waterfalls of Yosemite, Death Valley, the rugged coast line of the Calif. coast and the extravagance of Beverly Hills if you will. Then all can go back to their snow ridden northeast or the bug infested southeast and us Californians will stay here and do what we do.....year around.