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Page Revised: 03/15/2012 |
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Available Reviews Zuma/Trancas Canyons Point Mugu State Park Triunfo Canyon Park Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Circle X Ranch Las Virgenes View Park Zuma/Trancas Canyons Point Mugu State Park |
Date of Review 03/10. 03/08. 03/08. 03/01. 02/25. 02/06. 02/03. 01/14. |
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Quick Links: Wildflowers
of the Santa Monica Mountains - Photos of 950 SMM species. Archive - Previous “What's Blooming” reports. Outdoors - The
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There has been little to report as
the lack of rain has kept things pretty barren this year. I've gone out
looking for flowers several times in the last few weeks but the poor showings
made it seem hardly worth the effort to report them here. That said, You can
find flowers if you go looking for them. Many things that you would normally
find blooming at this time of year can indeed be found, but expect much lower
quantities, more restricted distribution, and in some cases dwarfed or
otherwise stunted versions of them. It seems we need to be using our summer
flower hunting skills even though it is only early March. Look for flowers
where they can survive the drought, that is, in damper and more sheltered
areas. The trails that are open and exposed have a summer-like dryness about
them including deep dust and little in the way of delicate herbaceous
plants. I’ll also mention I get
questions about finding waterfalls and the answer is the same. Not this year.
On the other hand the weather has been sunny and pleasant with cool clear
air. Many of the trails are in excellent condition. For me, more than enough
reason to get out if only for some enjoyable exercise. We also need to
remember that it is still quite early in the season and it is still possible
to get significant rain. Keep your
fingers crossed. And, as always, I'll see you on the trails. – ed. |
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Zuma/Trancas Canyons |
Backbone
Trail |
Date: 03/10 |
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NPS Sponsored
Backbone Hike number 4: Encinal Road to Latigo Road. This hike passes through
several different ecosystems including chaparral, coastal sage scrub, oak
woodland and riparian woodland. I was hopeful that the large number of
sheltered environments would yield more flowers than I'd seen elsewhere but
just about everywhere along the trail things were severely dry. As a
consequence we did not see very many flowers. All told we saw over 60
different species in bloom, which was a fair number, but most were present in
only small numbers (and I'm including the ever-present "weeds" in
this count as well.) In a typical year this would only rank as a poor
showing, but it seems about par for this year. On the other hand the weather
was fabulous, the trail beautiful and well-maintained, and everyone had a
great time. Flowering "Highlights" included: black sage, bush
monkey flower, quite a bit of deerweed, golden yarrow, three different
species of ceanothus, canyon sunflower, a few left-over wild cucumber, purple
nightshade, a couple of early chamise, a nice stand of California collarless
poppy, hedge nettle, wild morning glory, one Parry's phacelia, quite a bit of
wishbone bush, both two-tone and California everlasting, cliff aster, a few
woolly blue curls, prickly phlox, a little bit of caterpillar phacelia, some
fiddleneck, both bush and bi-color lupine, fiesta flower, a scattering of
popcorn flower, blue dicks, both fuchsia-flowered and chaparral gooseberry,
milkmaids, Indian warrior, Indian paintbrush, vervain, California figwort,
blue larkspur, lace pod, virgin's bower, some early crimson pitcher sage, and
a few eucrypta. – ed. |
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Point Mugu State Park |
La Jolla
Canyon Trail |
Date: 03/08 |
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The eradication of
non-native grasses in La Jolla Valley is now completed and the valley has
greened up and regained much of the aspect of earlier times. The tall Harding grass has been cut in the
valley's northwestern edges. You are
sure to see wild hyacinth now, and near the pond there is blue-eyed
grass. In the La Jolla Canyon woodland
I found hedge nettle blooming, fuchsia-flowered gooseberry, ceanothus,
morning glory, bush monkey flower. I found
white nightshade blooming alongside canyon sunflower in several locations. Woolly paintbrush is appearing, and
wishbone bush, California encelia and red-stemmed
filaree. The trumpet-shaped datura
blooms show a variety of white and blue hues, fullest at mid-day. Giant coreopsis "forests" add to
the primeval aspect of rugged La Jolla canyon. There are colonies of star lily and
shooting stars in the brushy undergrowth near La Jolla Valley Trail and it's
intersection with La Jolla Canyon Trail.
The pond area is a good place to find vervain. The shooting stars are about done. At this time of year fennel is barely
visible, just a pleasant fragrance.
Helicopters are beginning to haunt the interior valleys of Mugu park
so it's best to pick a windy day if you are seeking to escape city
noise. The park is one of the area's
foremost locations to view native plant and animal species. – Alexander Walker. |
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Triunfo Canyon Park |
Misc. Trails |
Date: 03/08 |
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This is one of my
favorite places to send people who want a beautiful site that is close to the
101 corridor. As elsewhere this year it was pretty dry and many of the
regular flowers are few or non-existent.
I counted about 60 different species in bloom but that required a
couple hours of dedicated walking on a significant cross-section of its many trails
and includes the standard weeds one sees everywhere. Going over my list I'm
not sure what to call a "highlight" since most things were present
in such low quantity it would be easy to miss almost everything on the list.
In any case highlights include deerweed, wild morning glory, wild peony, a
few different ceanothus, fiesta flower, Chinese houses, blue dicks, fiddle
neck, California poppy, miner's lettuce, popcorn flower, bush monkey flower,
woodland star, purple nightshade, black sage (but some individuals are
already dropping their leaves!), two-toned everlasting, fuchsia-flowered
gooseberry, canyon sunflower, woolly blue curls, and one chocolate lily. In a
normal year I would rate this showing as "fair" at best. Hopefully
things will improve. – ed. |
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Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space (Ahmanson Ranch) |
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Date: 03/01 |
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Today I actually
saw the first mariposa of the season, and it was calochortus
catalinae. This was in the Ahmanson
Ranch preserve. I entered from the Vanowen entrance and proceeded west, then south to the
Victory entrance. The mariposa (just
one so far, but could see others getting ready) was on the eastern side of
the trail, which I believe is termed Moore Canyon Road. There are hundreds of blue dicks as well,
these have been here for a month or so, also golden fiddlenecks are
increasing from the beginning of the trail and other spots. Solanum xanti has been around for over a
month as well, and the unfortunate mustard.
Less showy bloomers include baccharis salicifolia and baccharis
pilularis, juglans is getting ready. – Adam Lieberman. |
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Circle X Ranch |
Backbone
Trail |
Date: 02/25 |
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This was hike number
three of the Backbone Series sponsored by the National Park Service. We
picked up the trail at mile marker 9.1 and hiked west to the Mishe Mokwa
trailhead. Most of us also did the new section to the west on the open
portion of the Etz Maloy Motorway and down to
Mulholland. As noted elsewhere things
were pretty dry on most of this trail with only a modest number of flowers in
bloom. The best portions for flowers
were the long north-west facing section and some of the deeper ravines. These
sections are more sheltered from the sun and consequently not nearly as dried
out. About 40 different species seen,
but this includes the standard weeds one sees everywhere. Overall a modest
showing but it is still a bit early in the season for many flowers. Highlights include three different species
of ceanothus, canyon sunflower, bush sunflower, fuchsia flowered gooseberry,
a few chaparral gooseberry, blue-eyed grass, a couple of different
everlastings, deerweed, bush monkey flower, golden yarrow, some early black
sage, Eastwood manzanita, wild morning glory, wild cucumber, cliff aster,
rock rose, wish-bone bush, prickly phlox, blue larkspur, hedge nettle, and
shooting stars. Further on to the west a few additional species were noted by
other hikers in the group including wooly blue curls and elderberry. A decent showing given the dry year we are
having. – ed. |
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Las Virgenes View Park |
New
Millennium Trail |
Date: 02/06 |
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I was hiking on the New Millennium trail yesterday and was surprised
to see a lot of Caterpillar Phacelia (Phacelia circutaria
var.hubbyi) growing on the hillside. Just a few of them are blooming right now,
but in couple of weeks they should be putting on a decent show. I didn't see much else on the trail, a few
Red Maids, a few Indian Paintbrush and a couple of lupine. To reach the Caterpillar Phacelia,
hike the New Millennium trail 1.2 miles to the "T" junction. Turn right, and go about another quarter of
a mile. This is a nice trail that not a lot of people know about. In a good year it can have spectacular
wildflowers. – Jim Garafalo. |
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Zuma/Trancas Canyons |
Backbone
Trail |
Date: 02/03 |
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Kanan Dume to about
halfway to Encinal Canyon. Red stem filaree, wild cucumber, blue larkspur,
shepherd’s purse, common groundsel, wishbone, Indian warrior, milkmaids,
chaparral current, chickweed, bur clover, mule fat, wild sweet pea (one),
hummingbird sage (one), purple nightshade, California everlasting, black
mustard, cliff aster, tobacco tree, bush lupine (one and more close to
blooming), Spanish broom, green bark ceanothus, big pod ceanothus, sticky
monkey flower, and deer weed..
– Barbara & John. |
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Point Mugu State Park |
Backbone
Trail |
Date: 1/14/2012 |
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Today’s hike was
the first leg of the NPS 2012 Backbone Trail hike series. We are
hiking west to east in 8 segments, one every two weeks. On a clear January
day the ascent from the shoreline always provides a plethora of terrific
vistas in all directions. Less so with plants in bloom due to this
year’s rare rain pattern. Along the ridge we found and added a few
more. Likewise, descending on Wood Canyon Vista, but the walk up
Sycamore Canyon to Danielson revealed little. The perennials
were putting on a better show than the annuals. Some of the blooms were
near solitary. The following native species were noted in bloom: Mule
fat, Deer weed, Busch mallow, Sedge, Bladder pod, Lemonade berry, Hedge
nettle, Ashy-leaved buckwheat, Big pod ceanothus, Prickly phlox, Morning
glory, 4 o’clock, Bush sunflower, Chaparral currant, Green bark ceanothus,
Lessingia, California buckwheat, Paint brush, Golden yarrow, Shooting stars,
Canyon sunflower, Wild cucumber, Purple nightshade, Chaparral sweet pea,
Peony, and Monkey flower. – R.
Waycott (and others). |
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Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area 401 West
Hillcrest Drive 805-370-2301 |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report you can e-mail the
editor at: or phone
Tony at 310-457-6408 |
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What’s Blooming on the web at www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom or go to www.nps.gov/samo and click on “What’s Blooming”
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