Page Revised: 06/24/2011

 

Available Site Reviews

Circle X Ranch

Rocky Oaks

Peter Strauss Ranch

Westridge-Canyonback Park

Upper Las Virgenes Canyon

Cold Creek Canyon

Malibu Creek State Park

Los Robles Open Space

Escondido Canyon Park

Rancho Sierra Vista

Point Mugu State park

Topanga Canyon State Park

Paramount Ranch

Castro Crest

Red Rock Canyon Park

Date of Review

06/25 & 06/17 & 06/05 & 06/03.

06/21 & 05/31.

06/12.

06/10.

06/04.

05/30.

05/28 & 05/18 & 05/15.

05/26.

05/22.

05/21.

05/21.

05/19.

05/19.

05/15.

05/15.

Quick Links:

Wildflowers of the Santa Monica Mountains - Photos of 850 SMM species.

Archive - Previous “What's Blooming” reports.

Outdoors - The Calendar of Events for the Santa Monica Mountains NRA.

Wildfowers Facebook - A place where people can share about flowers.

SMM WildFlowers - The Park's popular wildflower app for the iPhone/iPad.

 

        The cool weather we have experienced this year in the later spring (and even a surprise rain!) seems to be keeping the flowers going longer than is typical. Visitation to the Park’s trails remains high, no doubt because the beaches have been a bit cool. There is still time to do some flower hiking but I see there is a forecast for some more-typical warmth in the near future. If you have been putting off a flower hike because “it is too late in the season” now might be the time to act.

        As always, if you want to contact me or submit a flower report my email address is at the at the bottom of this page.  See you on the trails.

        – ed.

 


 

 

Circle X Ranch

Canyon View Trail

 Date: 06/24/2011

 

 

        Things have definitely begun to dry out now, although this trail, with its south aspect, dries out early anyway. It is one of the first to start flowering nicely in the spring and one of the first to enter summer. Except for some scattered holdouts most of the flowers in this list tell us summer is just around the corner. In addition most of the flower reported here were present in only modest numbers, much less than just a few weeks ago. Highlights include elegant clarkia, a few greenbark ceanothus, several Plummer’s mariposa lily, perezia, slender tarweed, bird’s beak, annual paintbrush, bush monkey flower, creek monkey flower, Spanish clover Turkish rugging, black sage, golden yarrow, morning glory, California wild rose, heart-leaved penstemon, California buckwheat, both chalk and lance-leaved dudleyas, several nice stands of scarlet larkspur, chamise, yucca, bush mallow, woolly blue curls, laurel sumac, California chicory, and deerweed. All told about 35 species in bloom. Except for the larkspur and the lilies not too much to brag about.  – ed.

 

Rocky Oaks

Misc. Trails

 Date: 06/21/2011

 

 

        We started at the parking lot, hiked over to the pond and stopped to watch the coots and their chicks forage in the tule. From there we went north and picked up the Rock Oaks Loop Trail, which was in very good condition as it was just recently groomed. After circling around and returning to the pond we decided to loop around again, this time on the Glade Trail before returning to the parking lot. Rocky Oaks has a pretty heavy burden of non-native weeds but still can provide a decent showing of wildflowers in some areas. Flowering highlights included golden yarrow, California buckwheat, black sage, deerweed, several nice stands of hillside penstemon, yucca, loosestrife, purple nightshade, slender tarweed, Turkish rugging, a few hoary-leaved ceanothus, bush mallow, woolly blue curls, golden stars, a few scarlet larkspur (with more to come,) California everlasting, Spanish clover, chicory, water smartweed, the attractive native cobweb thistle, bird’s beak, purple clarkia, a few blue-eyed grass, slender sunflower, and a couple of chamise holding onto their last blossoms. All told about 45 species in bloom. Without the pond I’d probably not visit this site very often.  – ed.

 

Circle X Ranch

Mishe Mokwa Loop

 Date: 06/17/2011

 

 

        We hiked on a heavily overcast day.  It was cool and the colors of the landscape were fully saturated.  We had hiked two weeks ago and then it looked as though the scarlet larkspur was on the brink of blooming so we came to see if it was now in bloom.  The answer is, mostly, no.  We did see a very few plants in full bloom but mostly it was still more promise than even buds.  I remain surprised at the great sense of the landscape being in full bloom even as we are heading into July.  I believe that we saw a fewer number of varieties of plants in bloom but on this hike you will be constantly surrounded by flowers. 

        We started from the northern parking lot and headed to Sandstone Peak when we joined the loop trail.  Immediately we saw California buckwheat, deerweed, black sage, chamise, golden yarrow, Turkish rugging, woolly blue curls, slender tarweed, yellow monkey flower and many blooming yuccas.  On this spur trail we saw a single, perfect Plummer’s mariposa lily, a harbinger of beautiful things to come. 

        Once we joined the loop trail we saw many goldenstar lilies, bush mallow, sticky monkey flower, bush lupine, lance leaf dudleya, scarlet larkspur, heart leaf penstemon, popcorn flower, farewell-to-spring and sticky madia.  The star of this section of trail remains the exquisite yellow mariposas.  We counted more than 80 in the loop.  There are a few remaining caterpillar phacelias, purple nightshade, virgin's bower seedpods and even a little greenbark ceanothus. 

Once beyond Sandstone Peak we saw blue dicks, some blue larkspur, California everlasting, chalk live forever, purple clarkia and wild brodiaea.  White pitcher sage began to appear frequently in bloom.  As we moved into the moist areas approaching Split Rock we saw California chicory, wild morning glory, chaparral honeysuckle, cinquefoil, vervain and peninsular onion.  There was creek monkey flower in the creek.  Flower watching is still very good at Circle X.  – Dorothy Steinicke

 

Peter Strauss Ranch

 

 Date: 06/12/2011

 

 

        We went to the ranch a few hours before the free concert on Sunday so we could fit in a hike and finish the afternoon with the concert.  It was a nice combination.  There are several free concerts at the Peter Strauss Ranch during the summer.

        The trailhead goes two ways.  The first right will take you back to the house and is a short but lovely walk.  If you pass the first right and go to the second right you will go up the mountain.   There were quite a few flowers blooming.  Highlights of the hike included a lovely area at the top of the hill that was covered with slender sunflowers and we were surrounded by two sisters butterflies.  We were also happy to find a false indigo in bloom which is somewhat rare.  There were several patches of foothill penstemon, quite a few areas with elegant clarkias, and many canyon sunflowers in bloom.  At the beginning of the trail there were several coffeeberry plants in bloom.  Other flowers we spotted in bloom include: purple nightshade, morning glory, pitcher sage, sticky monkey flower, fuschia gooseberry in berry, caterpillar phacelia, sow thistle, California everlasting, popcorn flower, heart-leaf penstemon, black sage, chamise, buckwheat, tarweed, blue-eyed grass, scarlet pimpernel, bull thistle, California poppy, purple clarkia, Indian pink, Turkish rugging, yucca, cud weed aster, wooly blue curls, bedstraw, a fairly large patch of media, golden stars and strigose lotus, Finally there was one delightful creek monkey flower at the bottom of the hill.  – Fred and Nellie

 

Westridge-Canyonback Park

Westridge Fire Road

 Date: 06/10/2011

 

 

        We began at the trailhead at the end of Westridge Road in Brentwood. This fire road is the only off-leash dog trail that I know in the Santa Monica Mountains.  It is completely exposed so it is best to go early in the morning or on a June Gloom sort of day.  The habitat is chaparral.  There are no unusual blooms but a great quantities of the usual ones.  Elderberry flower, California buckwheat, black sage, bush lupine, golden yarrow, sticky monkey flower, flowering yucca, purple nightshade, deer weed, chamise, cliff aster and heart leaf penstemon are all massed on the banks bordering the road.  There are a few bushes of blooming bush poppy and, as you go higher, quite a lot of farewell-to-spring.  You can walk all the way to the old Nike missile site at the top of the hill where there is a viewing station to look out on both sides of the mountain.  – Dorothy Steinicke

 

Circle X Ranch

Grotto Trail

 Date: 06/05/2011

 

 

        It's getting late in the season so I was not expecting as good a showing as this trail provided. No doubt we can thank the recent cool weather for that. Flowering highlights include yucca, bush monkey flower, yellow monkey flower, a spectacular wall of creek monkey flower still dripping moisture, the first few specimens of cliff aster, black sage, California everlasting, a couple of different shrubby sunflowers, elderberry, elegant clarkia, chamise, heart-leaved penstemon, morning glory, sticky madia, lance-leaved dudleya, caterpillar phacelia, woolly blue curls, golden stars, Catalina mariposa lily, blue-eyed grass, a few remaining wishbone bush, greenbark ceanothus, one stinging lupine, chaparral honeysuckle, the fascinating Fish's milkwort, purple nightshade, a beautiful example of the native cobweb thistle with its deep crimson flowers, farewell to spring, several hummingbird sage, the native California chicory, California wild rose, and finally, a few snowberry flowers. All told almost sixty species in bloom; a great showing thanks mostly to the perennials.  – ed.

 

Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve

 

 Date: 06/04/2011

 

 

        Head North on Las Virgenes Canyon Rd. (opposite from heading to the ocean) and drive to the end of the road.  It dead ends at the trailhead.  We saw quite a few varieties of flowers, but not very many of them.  Our goal was to find wand or moth mullein.  We were successful.  They were on the left hand side of the trail about 45 minutes to an hour in.  There was also a delightful patch of white sage in bloom.   Some places were covered in sticky monkey flower adding large sections of orange to the green and brown hills.  It was very pretty.  There were abundant tadpoles in a section of the steam.  We also enjoyed peering into and going inside of the burned out trunks of a few oaks and a sycamore tree; evidence that a large fire passed through here at some point. The trail is wide and flat and in most places.  We went a little over an hour in and returned though one biker said it goes all the way to Simi Valley.  Flowers that we saw include: horehound, verbena, elderberry, milk thistle, purple nightshade, elegant clarkia, sweet yellow clover, groundsel, bull thistle, jimson weed, long beaked filaree, black sage, deerweed, caterpillar phacelia, scarlet bugler, yucca, a large patch of wild rose bushes, morning glory, narrow leaf milkweed, farewell to spring, mulefat, yerba santa, blackberry, bush mallow and cliff aster.  – Fred and Nellie

 

Circle X Ranch

Sandstone Peak /

Mishe Mokwa Loop

 Date: 06/03/2011

 

 

        This was one of the most spectacular flower walks I've taken this season,  which is a surprise because most flowers are usually done by June.  We parked in the Sandstone Peak Parking lot.  From the trailhead we could see flowering yucca, golden yarrow, deer weed, black sage and chamise.  Heading up the hill we encountered cliff aster, golden star lilies, woolly blue curls, bush lupine, sticky monkey flower, popcorn flower, farewell-to-spring, heart leaf penstemon, Chinese houses and purple nightshade.  There was rarely a stretch of trail that wasn't bordered with banks of flowers.  Then we came upon the star of this hike, lovely yellow mariposas, we counted 65 on the loop. We encountered someone who said that she does the loop every week and that there had been none the week before.  Continuing on past Sandstone Peak we saw lance leaf dudleya, virgin's bower seed pods, blue dicks, purple clarkia, blue larkspur, globe gilia, owl's clover, yellow pincushion, Turkish rugging and wild morning glory.  Another star of the walk was the lovely white pitcher sage which we started to see on the spur trail up to Sandstone Peak and then saw intermittently for the rest of the loop.  The meadow past Inspiration Point which hosts shooting stars in February was filled with wild brodiaea.  Heading down to Split Rock we saw cinquefoil.  Climbing back up to the trailhead we passed yellow monkey flower, Parry's phacelia, and a few Catalina mariposas.  The scarlet larkspur were not out yet but looked like they would be coming soon.  – Dorothy Steinicke

 

Scenic drives

 

 Date: 05/31/2011

 

 

        Along Mulholland Highway everything is lush and green, and there are many things in bloom, not nearly as spectacular as previous years, but this road is certainly a pleasant drive through the Santa Monica Mountains from Malibu Canyon all the way to Pacific Coast Highway.  Among the large shrubs and small trees in bloom are Chamise (white spiky blossoms),  Elderberry (creamy white rounded sprays of blooms), and sage (light purple flower spikes above grey leaves). You’ll see the tall yucca stalks topped with white flowers all over the hillsides.  Lower to the ground are the yellowish gold spikes of deerweed bushes, the golden yellow round blooms of yarrow and the rosy white blooms of California buckwheat.  Sheets of gold on steep rocky slopes are Sticky Monkeyflower.  – Sheila Braden

 

Rocky Oaks

Misc. Trails 

 Date: 05/31/2011

 

 

        Went for  a walk at Rocky Oaks (Kanan and Mulholland) on 5/31/11.  I took the Pond Trail to the Loop Trail.  There is some Notable Penstemon on the pond trail.  I also saw Golden Yarrow, Sticky Monkey Flower, Blue Eyed Grass, Purple Clarkia, California Buckwheat, Deerweed , Black Sage, Scarlet Pimpernel,  and Chaparral Yucca.  Near the end of the loop trail,  there are some California Poppies blooming.  – Jim Garafalo

 

Cold Creek Canyon

Stunt High Trail 

 Date: 05/30/2011

 

 

        From the parking on Stunt Rd. 1 mile in from Mulholland to the next Stunt Rd. crossing. Right at the parking area there is an overwhelming array of flowers.  Purple sage are the predominant blooms but there is also flowering yucca, California buckwheat, greenbark ceanothus, deerweed, golden yarrow and chamise.  Heading down the trail there were great quantities of golden stars interspersed with blue eyed grass, soap plant lily, morning glory, purple nightshade, caterpillar phacelia and sticky monkey flower.  Once the trail runs alongside the creek elegant clarkia becomes the predominant flower.  It is mixed with canyon sunflower, wild rose and black sage.  Stream orchids are growing right in the creek and are bigger and more prevalent than I remember them being in previous years.  Heading up into the chaparral there is lance leaf dudleya, purple clarkia and farewell-to-spring, there are still blue larkspur blooming as well as vervain, slender tarweed and woolly blue curls. heart leaf penstemon, Chinese houses and California live-forever.  At the very top, where the trail again meets Stunt Rd.  there is a large patch of scarlet larkspur mixed with large flower phacelia and cliff asters.  – Dorothy Steinicke

 

Malibu Creek State Park

Lost Cabin Trail

 Date: 05/28/2011

 

 

        Saturday, May 28, was day chosen by the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council (SMMTC) to perform maintenance on the Lost Cabin Trail. By the time I had worked my way in about a mile I was convinced that the wildflower display rated an excellent, so on the return began to record the flowers seen. I started with yellow pincushion, yucca, chamise, deerweed, woolly blue-curls, stone crop, turkish rugging, ca buckwheat, yellow mariposa lily, foothill lupine, elegant clarkia, yellow star thistle, golden yarrow, blue larkspur, blue eyed grass, vervain, golden star, Spanish clover, Catalina mariposa lily, downy navarretia, speckled clarkia, foothill penstemon, Indian thistle, coffee berry, and red stem filaree. The above flowers were in considerable quantity.  Less frequent were shiny lomatium, a single white snapdragon, black sage, ca milkweed a little off the trail,  along with a chaparral honeysuckle. Near the Mash site and along the Crags Road to the west were collar lupine, poison hemlock, ca poppy, plantain, curly dock, collarless poppy, elderberry, popcorn flower, scarlet bugler.  – Burt Elliot

 

Los Robles Open Space

Los Padres Trail 

 Date: 05/26/2011

 

 

        The Los Padres Trail is off Moorpark Rd.  Go under the freeway and turn left on Los Padres Drive.   The trailhead is almost immediately on the right.  The hike starts with a stroll through an oak glen.  It is very pretty.  Then you will start a gradual up hill climb.  The climb becomes steeper going up the mountain which makes this a good exercise hike. There is a lovely view of Conejo Valley on one side and a peek of Hidden Valley and the expanse of the mountains on the other.  The varying shades of green in the mountains due to our recent rainfall is picture perfect.  Of course it is all downhill on the way back.  The whole hike takes about 1 1/2 hours.  Flowers of note were Indian pinks, lots of elegant clarkia, heart shaped penstemon, cliff asters, sticky monkey flower and a few patches of mayweed.  We also saw:  California everlasting, elderberry, greenbark ceanothus, canyon sunflower and bush sunflower, California poppy, morning glory, chamise, tree tobacco, black sage, purple nightshade, bull thistle, caterpillar phacelia, yarrow, bedstraw, verbena and horehound.  The amount of Italian thistle was a little overwhelming.  Look for the patch that is flattened where Fred fell.  We saw two beautiful California Sisters butterflies in the oak glen.  – Fred and Nellie

 

Escondido Canyon Park

Escondido Falls Trail

 Date: 05/22/2011

 

 

        Escondido Canyon is located off Winding Way Drive which is off PCH.   The parking lot is near PCH, but there is a long walk through the neighborhood to reach the trailhead.  At the end of the trail is a waterfall.  It was only running moderately today, however, the ferns, moss and algae growing on the rocks was quite lovely.   At the beginning of the trail was the ever-prevalent black mustard and Italian thistle  and also a forest of hemlock.  We also saw:  tocalote, blue eyed grass, bush mallow, hummingbird sage, canyon sunflower, black sage, sticky monkey flower, Indian paintbrush, deerweed, wild rose, blackberry, purple sage, verbena, sweet yellow clover, lupine, elderberry, bush sunflower, cliff aster, vetch, scarlet pimpernel, heart shaped penstemon, hedge nettle, bedstraw and a small patch of coastal lotus.  – Fred and Nellie

 

Rancho Sierra Vista /

Point Mugu State Park

Cabin Trail

 Date: 05/21/2011

 

 

        Take Wendy Drive past Lynn road until you reach the trailhead at Potrero Road.  There are several trails in this area.  The cabin trail is off the trail which leads to the waterfall.  We found an abundance of flowers and wildlife.  The air was filled with the buzzing of busy bees.  We saw many inside of flowers gathering nectar.  We also saw four types of lizards; alligator, side spot, western fence and  two huge whiptails.  One was on the road and another was hiding in a snowberry bush.  We also saw a large gopher snake slithering across the trail.  It was a very rewarding hike.  We were greeted at the beginning of the trail with wild rose bushes.  There was quite a lot of Italian thistle, which has been a usual sight this year and black mustard also.  Other flowers include:  wild radish, sticky monkey flower, California everlasting, California poppy, purple nightshade, farewell to spring, morning glory, red stemmed and bird beak filaree, horehound, vetch, tocalote, green bark ceanothus, deerweed, black sage, verbena, bush mallow, chamise, golden stars, microseris, fiesta flower, Indian pinks, mountain dandelion, white and yellow yarrow, hummingbird sage, canyon sunflower, elderberry, scarlet pimpernel, buckwheat, bush sunflower, wishbone, caterpillar phacelia, fennel, cliff aster, bedstraw, heart leaf penstemon, lupine, blackberry, hedge nettle, Indian paintbrush, snowberry  (it was a large bush, but only one flower) chalk dudleya and one cudweed hiding in the deerweed.  – Fred and Nellie

 

Topanga Canyon State Park

Santa Ynez Canyon

 Date: 05/19/2011

 

 

        Entering on the Palisades side, trailhead at the end of Vereda de la Montura St. which branches off of Palisades Drive. 

        This is one of my favorite hikes.  The creekside area is always green and shady.  Be aware that a lot of the green is poison oak, long pants and long sleeves are a good idea. 

        This canyon is a gem in the summer time.  It gets a lot of summer flowers after the hillsides have dried up.  It is not quite there yet but there is still a lot of water in the creek and a lot of flowers in bloom.  Upon entering the trail flowering black sage, canyon sunflower and hedge nettle were immediately visible.  As I walked along I saw blackberry flowers, purple nightshade, sticky monkey flower, wild rose, deer weed, bush lupine, honeysuckle, lance leaf dudleya, sweet pea and wild morning glory in bloom.  The cream bush, which is one of the special flowers on this hike, is just getting started.  I really went on this trail to look at the chaparral portion that heads of the mountain to Trippett Ranch.  May often has spectacular flowers in this section.  Not this time.  There are flowers worth going to see, but not the abundance that is often there.  There are the usual chaparral flowers; yucca, golden yarrow, yellow pin cushion, chamise, Turkish rugging, California buckwheat and owl's clover.  There are only a few specimens of the more exciting flowers that often occur here; white snapdragon, scarlet larkspur, golden star lilies and globe gilia.  The scarlet larkspur looked as though it had been browsed by deer.  There were a lot of butterflies; checkerspots, California sisters, mourning cloaks, swallowtails and a lot of little blues.  – Dorothy Steinicke

 

Paramount Ranch

Trail behind the Train Depot

 Date: 05/19/2011

 

 

        I often don't think of  Paramount Ranch as a good hiking spot for sighting flowers, but this trail had quite an abundance of flowers.  It would be a great trail to take a family with younger children as the trail is short (about an hour) and the western town is fun and there are bathrooms.  Go through the western town to the train depot.  The trail is to the right and goes up a small hill.  Yarrow lined almost the entire trail with sprinklings of elegant clarkia and woolly blue curls.  The yellow and purple combination was quite appealing.  Other notable plants include:  golden current in berry, abundant black mustard, tocalote, red stemmed filaree, Italian thistle and milk thistle, mint leaf verbena, a very large horehound bush, caterpillar phacelia, perezia, purple clarkia, elderberry, chamise, buckwheat, a nice large patch of foothill penstemon, quite a few yuccas up the hillside, owl's clover, slender sunflower, purple nightshade, purple sage, golden stars, mountain dandelion, spring vetch, pineapple plant, and fiddleneck.  There is a short trail off to the left of the main trail which leads to a secluded picnic bench.  We also saw a baby rattlesnake slithering across the road and a horned lizard hiding in a bush.– Fred and Nellie

 

Malibu Creek State Park

Cistern Trial

 Date: 05/18/2011

 

 

        There are some nice blooms on the Cistern trail in Malibu Creek State Park.  The trailhead is located about 1.6 miles west of Las Virgenes Road on Mulholland Highway, on the south side of the street.  The trail is not signed, but there is a "no bikes" sign at the trailhead.  There is a colony of Matilija Poppies near the beginning of the trail.  I also saw California Buckwheat, Golden Yarrow, Black and Purple Sage,  Deerweed. Purple Nightshade, Canyon Sunflower, Sticky Monkeyflower, Woolly Bluecurls, Indian Paintbrush, Scarlet Pimpernel,  and Vervain.  Continuing west on the canyon bottom and turning right on the Cage Creek trail there are some annuals blooming; Elegant Clarkia, Caterpillar Phacelia, and at the junction of the Cage Creek trail and the Lookout Trail there is some Specked Clarkia.  Further on up the Lookout Trail there is White Popcorn Flower and Goldenstar.  The hike that I am describing is a 2 and 1/2 mile loop: Take  the Cistern Trail down to the canyon bottom and turn right,  right on the Cage Creek trail, and right on the Lookout Trail which takes you back to  the Cistern Trail.  – Jim Garafalo

 

Castro Crest

Backbone Trail

 Date: 05/15/2011

 

 

        The section of the Backbone trail from Kanan Rd to Latigo Cyn is showing some really nice blooms right now.   This part of the trail heads east , over tunnel #1 on Kanan Rd.  Among the flowers that you will see are Sticky Monkey Flower, Indian Paintbrush, Golden Yarrow,  Fiesta Flower, Mariposa Lily, a couple of different kinds of Phacelia, Black Sage, Purple Sage, Pitcher Sage, Wooly Blue Curls, Elegant Clarkia, Canyon Sunflower, and Bush Lupine.   If you cross the road when you get to Latigo Canyon road and continue east on the backbone trail for a little ways, there are even more nice blooms, including some Indian Pinks.  This trail has some of the best wildflower displays that I have seen this season in the Santa Monica’s.  – Jim Garafalo

 

Red Rock Canyon Park

Red Rock Fire Road

 Date: 05/15/2011

 

 

        The park is at the very end of Red Rock Canyon Rd. which intersects Old Topanga Rd.  Be careful on Red Rock Canyon Rd.  There are many blind curves and several places where it is essentially only one lane wide. 

        This was one of the nicest and most flower filled walks I've been on it a while.  The trail is a fire road that heads uphill out of the parking area.  On your right is a still running stream.  On your left towering rock walls pocked with many worn away holes.  There are masses of blooming flowers clustered together.  There is golden yarrow, elegant clarkia, blue dick, chamise, elder flower, wild roses, banks of Chinese houses, purple nightshade, virgin's bower in seed pods, canyon sunflower, sticky monkey flower, holly leaf cherry, California chicory, lance leaf dudleya, Indian pinks and lots of blue larkspur and farewell-to-spring.  The green hillsides above the creek are speckled with flowering yucca.  Continuing uphill you leave the rock formations behind and find yourself inside a giant green bowl.  There are still a lot of flowers along the road including black sage, wild morning glory, deer weed, bush lupine, California everlasting, Indian paintbrush, California buckwheat purple sage and a few mariposas.  There is one stand of surprisingly large hummingbird sage plants in bloom.  Surprisingly there are prickly phlox and greenbark ceanothus still in bloom.  The road comes to a T the left, downhill direction will take you to Stunt Rd.  The right continues uphill.  That is the way I went.  This stretch is much more exposed and had fewer flowers but there were still some rewarding surprises.  There was bush sunflower, yellow monkey flower, woolly blue curls, mustard evening primrose, popcorn flower, cliff aster and white snapdragon.  In one sheltered patch just off the trail there was a large clump of notable penstemon.  – Dorothy Steinicke

 

Malibu Creek State Park

Crags Road

 Date: 05/15/2011

 

 

        It was a beautiful day in Malibu Creek with blue skies and puffy white clouds and a wonderful day for a hike. However, there were not too many flowers.  We walked from the lower parking lot to the rock pool and then back to Crags Road past the  MASH site to the Malibu Lake community.  The flowers we saw were:  black mustard, spring vetch, storkbeak filaree, Italian thistle, poison hemlock, yarrow, purple sage, bedstraw, deerweed, bush mallow, sticky monkey flower, red stem filaree, popcorn flower, caterpillar phacelia, elderberry, foothill penstemon, farewell to spring, elegant clarkia, some large wild rose bushes and one brilliant deep red colored purple clarkia on the right hand side of the road past the MASH site.– Fred and Nellie

 


 

Contact Information:

 

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

 

401 West Hillcrest Drive
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

 

805-370-2301

www.nps.gov/samo

If you would like to contribute to the wildflower report you can e-mail the editor at:
Tony_Valois@partner.nps.gov

 

or phone Tony at 310-457-6408

What’s Blooming

on the web at

 www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom

or go to

www.nps.gov/samo and click on “What’s Blooming