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Page Revised: 3/29/08 |
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Available Site Reviews Circle X Ranch Palo Comado Griffith Park Las Virgenes Cyn Triunfo Cyn. Park Point Mugu State Park Lake Eleanor Open Space Castro Crest Area Cold Creek Preserve Rancho Sierra Vista Upper Zuma/Trancas Cyns |
Date of Review 3-28-08, 3-14-08, 2-18-08. 3-28-08. 3-26-08. 3-22-08. 3-22-08. 3-19-08, 3-1-08. 3-10-08. 3-9-08, 3-8-08. 3-8-08. 3-2-08. 2-23-08. |
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What's Blooming photo gallery: http://www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom/bloom.htm |
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Circle X Ranch |
Grotto Trail & misc. |
Date: 3/28/08 |
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The Grotto Trail is always worth a
visit, especially on a hot day. Children love climbing on the rocks and
checking out the pools for tadpoles and newts. As always in damp areas watch
out for poison oak. A good number of the unofficial “social”
trails run through big patches of it (I hate to think what the visitors who
made those trails looked like the day after. Yet another good reason to stay
on the established trails!) Flowering
highlights of the trail include purple nightshade, blue larkspur, mariposa lilies,
star lilies, sunflowers, hummingbird sage, wild sweet pea, and chinese
houses. Elsewhere at CXR we are beginning to
see a few chocolate lilies on the Mishe Mokwa Trial. The blue ceanothus
(i.e., hairy-leaved and greenbark) appear to be winding down after a rather
lackluster year. Although still in bloom many of the small herbaceous plants
are looking rather dried up already. Yerba Buena road itself has some nice
flowers along it. (-editor, list
submitted by Tarja Sagar) |
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Rating: Fair |
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Palo Comado |
China Flat Trail |
Date: 3/28/08 |
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The China Flat Trail can be picked up
off of Lindero Road and then winds its way steadily up to the China Flat
area. The continual rise makes for good exercise and some nice vistas. This
area burned a couple of years ago so many of the flowers are those frequently
described as “fire followers.” As typical of the breed their
stands are often dense with bright colors contrasting nicely with the
blackened stems of the burned chaparral shrubs. Some of the flower highlights
include wild cucumber, several different lupines, yellow pincushion, wild
morning glory, yerba santa, whispering bells, many different popcorn flowers,
purple nightshade, windmill pink, the closely related many-nerved catchfly, filarees, rock rose, a couple of different monkey
flowers, a couple of different lotus, several different evening primroses,
caterpillar phacelia, angel’s gilia, brewers red maids, a lot of blue
dicks, wild sweet pea, masses of fiddleneck, yarrow, chia, wishbone bush,
silver puffs, everlastings and the collarless California poppy. You might take a moment to notice the
parasite dodder growing on some of the plants along the trail. It looks like
a mass of bright orange filaments twisted among the branches of its host
plant. If you look closely at this relative of the morning glory you will see
that some of it is blooming with little white flowers. I also enjoy seeing
that the small fringe pods are in seed now with their lacy winged fruit. (-editor) |
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Rating: NR |
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Griffith Park |
Misc. trails |
Date: 3/26/08 |
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Griffith Park is located on the far
East end of the Santa Monica Mountains.
Flora recovery from last year’s fire is well underway, helped by
the winter rains. Throughout the park
there is an explosion of Common Eucrypta (Eucrypta chrysanthemifolia), which
always blooms abundantly after rains.
The burn areas are profusely covered with Wild Canterbury Bells
(Phacelia minor), and Blue Dicks, also known as Wild Hyacinth (Dichelostemma pulchellum), are extremely healthy looking. Blue and white Ceanothus are also blooming
throughout the park. Rare and
endangered Nevin’s Barberry (Berberis nevinii) can be found; its small
yellow flowers were in bloom a few weeks ago.
(Carol and Ron Brusha) |
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Rating: NR |
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Las Virgenes Cyn. Open
Space |
Misc. trails |
Date: 3/22/08 |
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I've been hiking in the Cheseboro / Las Virgenes / Calabasas area for a couple of
years and enjoy photographing the large variety of flowers in the area. I decided to see how many different flowers
I could find today and came up with the following list. I hiked up
Las Virgenes canyon for about 3.5 miles. Blue Dicks, Broad-leaved Lupine, Bush
Lupine, Bush Monkey Flower, Bush Sunflower, California Peony, California
Poppy, Caterpillar Phacelia, Chia, Coast Goldfields, Common Fiddleneck,
Coulter's Lupine, Creek Clover, Deerweed, Fern-leaf Phacelia, Fiesta Flower,
Large-flowered Popcorn Flower, Long-beaked Filaree, Purple Nightshade, Santa
Susana Tarweed, Southern California Locoweed, Strigose Lotus, Succulent
Lupine, Tree Tobacco, Twining Snapdragon, Valley Lupine, Wild Cucumber, Wild
Sweet Pea, Windmill Pink, Winter
Vetch, Woolly Paintbrush. (Sarah
Dickey) |
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Rating: NR |
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Triunfo Cyn. Park |
Misc. trails |
Date: 3/22/08 |
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This unit is often one of the best in
the whole Rec. Area for easy access to good numbers of showy flowers. I have
not had a chance to hike the famous and always worthwhile Pentachaeta Trail,
but I saw enough to feel confident in providing this unit with a
“Good” rating. One of my
favorites there is the now abundant “ground-pink” and its
relatives. (-editor) |
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Rating: Good |
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Point Mugu State park |
La Jolla Canyon and La Jolla Valley Loop trails |
Date: 3/19/08 |
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The star attraction of this area is
the Giant Coreopsis which are now in full bloom. In the 20 plus years
we’ve been hiking this trail, we have rarely seen them as numerous or
as magnificent. There is a batch of Datura in front of the restrooms at the
start of the trail. Also, copious numbers of Wild Sweet
Pea, Indian Paintbrush, Blue Dick, Lupine and Filaree line the trail. Other
flowers observed were: Tree Tobacco, Buckwheat, Deerweed, Monkey Flower,
Everlasting, Morning Glory, Bush Sunflower, Bladder Pod, Parry’s
Phacelia, Popcorn Flower, Mustard Evening Primrose, Black & Purple Sage,
Bristly Ox- Tongue, Ceanothus, Oxalis, Wild Cucumber, Hedge Nettle, Celery,
Wild Blackberry, Arroyo Willow, Coast Wallflower, Fuchsia- Flowered
Gooseberry, Purple Nightshade, Lemonade Berry, Chaparral Currant, Blue Eyed
Grass, Calif. Poppy, Calif. Goldenrod, Gumplant, Shooting Stars, Indian Pink
and Miner’s Lettuce. Across PCH, on the beach we observed Pink Sand
Verbena and Beach Evening Primrose.
(Richard & Agnes Thaler) |
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Rating: Good |
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Circle X Ranch |
Mishe Mokwa Trail |
Date: 3/14/08 |
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The last couple of weeks have made a big difference in the number of
flowers in bloom, both in terms of variety as well as quantity. However, we
still do not have the numbers that this trail is capable of displaying. On
the other hand signs are that things will get quite a bit better soon. Some
species, like the chaparral current and bigpod ceanothus have already peaked
and are on their way out. Others, like the shooting star are very near their
peak. Most species are still on their way up the blooming curve. It is worth
noting that this area has a good number of different ferns, mosses, and
liverworts as well. The view from Sandstone Peak was quite good although not
as clear as it has been. Flowering highlights include large numbers of
shooting stars, popcorn flowers, lotus, a few woolly blue curls, evening
primroses, skullcap, quite a few blue dick, a few black sage, wooly lomatium,
ceanothus oliganthus, purple sage, California everlasting, California
saxifrage, wild cucumber, coast goldfields, Eastwood manzanita, wild
sunflowers, miner’s lettuce, eucrypta, fuchsia-flowered gooseberry,
blue larkspur, quite a bit of winter cress in wet areas, prickly phlox, and
California peony. The deep blue hairy ceanothus might be quite good very
soon. We saw quite a few rosettes of the chocolate lily but it will be a
while before they begin to bloom. As usual, there were sections with poison
oak near the edge of the trail especially in the damp and shady areas. It can
be easily avoided but it might be considered a hazard if you are not familiar
with it. All told, better than fifty different species in bloom. (-editor) |
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Rating: Fair |
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Lake Eleanor Open Space |
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Date: 3/10/08 |
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The Lake Eleanor Open Space Area is
exploding with wildflowers (in the hills
southeast of the intersection of Westlake Blvd. and Potrero Rd.). The bloom is
uneven and composed mostly of tiny flowers; but there are a lot of them --
such as angel's gilia, ground pink,
lace-pod, dobie-pod, goldfields, goldentop,
comb-bur, miner's lettuce, popcorn flower, slender phlox,
athysanus, shiny peppergrass, shooting stars (fading), tomcat clover,
small evening primrose, both collar and dove lupine, strigose
lotus, nest-straw, California plantain, fiddleneck, wild cucumber,
common bedstraw, blue dicks, and common groundsel. (Jay Sullivan) |
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Rating: Fair to Good
(depending on where you're standing) |
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Castro Crest Area |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 3/9/08 |
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This hike was the sixth of the
2007-2008 Backbone Trail NPS Series. We will be hiking the entire Backbone
Trail, one part each month and reporting on the flowers when they are
plentiful enough to be of interest. This hike covered a distance of about 7
miles. The weather was clear and quite windy, although most of our time was
in canyons sheltered from the wind.
Backbone Trail sections Including one half mile west of Kanan Road
(starting from the overflow parking) crossing Kanan Road, crossing Latigo
Road and Latigo Motorway to Corral Canyon Road. We recorded seeing 49 species in
bloom, with a couple additional ones in question. The rains of a few weeks ago have made all
the difference in seeing vastly more flowers than in the past two years. Milkmaids, Wild Cucumber, and Red Stem
Filaree dominated the display. There were perhaps a few California
Everlasting and many Two-Tone Everlasting. In the way of trees; Coast Live
Oak, Mountain Mahogany, and Arroyo Willow. Among the shrubs were the Greenbark,
Big-Pod, and Hoary Ceanothus, the Mule Fat, Fuchsia-Flowered Gooseberry,
Coyote Brush, Black and Purple Sage, Eastwood Manzanita and a single Woolley
Blue Curl. Just west of Kanan Road we saw a small cluster of Blue Larkspur,
then the usual Spanish Broom that lines Kanan Road in this area. We noted
quite a lot of Indian Paintbrush, Blue Dick, and Chaparral Current in its
second bloom. There were scattered Lupine, Hummingbird Sage, Sunflower and
Canyon Sunflower, Wild Peony and a few spectacular Prickly Phlox. Among the
small flowers were Miner’s Lettuce, Birdfoot Trefoil, Wishbone Bush,
Eucrypta, Bur Clover, a single Rock Rose and a single Johnny-Jump-Up. The
Tree Poppy, California Buckwheat, Narrow Leave Bedstraw, and Woolly Lomatium
are making a start. As we reached the section that burned
two years ago, about the last quarter mile of our hike, Morning Glory has
taken over. We also saw Popcorn Flower along side its minute sibling and a
few small Red Maids, and finally our first Golden Yarrow for this
season. (Burt Elliot) |
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Rating: Fair |
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Castro Crest Area |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 3/8/08 |
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Things are improving. We walked from Kanan to Castro. Great showings of peony and milk maids in
particular. Otherwise a complete listing follows: man-root, two-tone
everlasting, California everlasting, four o'clock, hoary-leafed ceanothus,
big-pod ceanothus, hairy-leafed ceanothus, coast live oak, mule fat, willow,
milk maids, miners lettuce, chaparral currant, fuchsia-flowered gooseberry,
purple larkspur, walnut, poison oak, purple nightshade, paint brush, crimson
pitcher sage canyon
sunflower, bush sunflower, tree poppy, slender sunflower, blue-eyed grass,
peony, purple sage, elderberry, California buckwheat, southern tauschia,
black sage, prickly phlox, blue dicks, mountain mahogany, big berry
manzanita, wooly lomatium, eucrypta, popcorn flower large-flowered, morning
glory, golden yarrow, small evening primrose. In full bud and could have burst open
by today: elder berry, California saxifrage, star lily, virgins bower. (Ralph Waycott) |
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Rating: NR |
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Cold Creek Preserve |
Stunt High Trail |
Date: 3/8/08 |
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The winter rains are paying
dividends. This is a lovely hike at
any time of year but especially wonderful in spring. On my hike I saw more milkmaids in the
riparian section than I ever recall seeing.
Wild cucumber is abundant, carpeting the ground in many places. There is also popcorn flower, eucrypta,
miner's lettuce and sweet pea.
Climbing up from the riparian area there are purple nightshade, big
pod and greenbark ceanothus, blue dicks, canyon sunflower, bush poppy and
fuchsia flowering gooseberry. (Dorothy
Steinicke) |
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Rating: NR |
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Satwiwa/Rancho Sierra
Vista |
Wendy Loop trail |
Date: 3/2/08 |
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Today, we hike a very windy Wendy
Loop at Satwiwa/Rancho Sierra Vista. We saw Johnny
Jump Up, blue dick, wild cucumber, California everlasting, Chaparral currant,
purple nightshade, peony, canyon sunflower, wild sweet pea,
wild radish, white sage, lots of
shooting star, filaree, California
poppy, bush lupine. At the visitor
center garden, the golden currant,
bladderpod, vervain and fuschia flowered gooseberry were in full
bloom. I'd rate this fair, compared to
last year. (Kathy Jonokuchi) |
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Rating: Fair |
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Point Mugu State Park |
Misc. Trails near Danielson |
Date: 3/1/08 |
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The Santa Monica Trails Council performed
trail maintenance in Point Mugu State Park.
We began at Danielson Ranch in Sycamore Canyon. There is a really nice meadow right in the
back of the campground that's full of henbit, shepherd's purse and common
fiddleneck. As we proceeded up Blue
Canyon we observed wild cucumber, morning glory, shooting stars, canyon pea,
black sage, and chaparral currant.
After about 0.8 miles we turned to the north up Old Boney Trail where
we did most of our work and saw big pod and green bark ceanothus, purple
nightshade, popcorn flower, indian paintbrush, wishbone bush, california
everlasting, blue dicks, bush sunflower, and turkish rugging. Very green, very wet, very nice. It seems spring is about to burst out all
over. (Greg Sweel) |
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Rating: Fair |
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Upper Zuma/Trancas Cyns |
Backbone Trail Encinal to Kanan |
Date: 2/23/08 |
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Today, 2/23, the [NPS sponsored] BBT
hike took us between Encinal and Kanan (Tunnel #1), through the upper
watersheds of Trancas and Zuma canyons.
We saw the following in bloom: purple night shade, green bark
ceanothus, chaparral currant, big pod ceanothus, deer weed, California
everlasting , cucumber, wish bone, California buckwheat, morning glory,
fuchsia flowering gooseberry, telegraph weed, wooly aster, peony, willow,
milk maids, mountain mahogany, hummingbird sage, black sage, indian warrior.
Enjoy. (Ralph Waycott) |
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Rating: NR |
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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: e-mail: or phone
Tony at 310-457-6408 |
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