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Available Reviews
Topanga State Park Zuma Canyon Point Mugu State Park Circle X Ranch Point Dume Nature Preserve Red Rock Canyon Park Corral Canyon |
Date of Review
06/21 & 06/08 & 03/17 & 02/08 & 01/03. 05/27 & 01/26. 04/09. 04/06. 04/05. 04/04. 03/11. |
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This site performs a public service that anyone can participate in. Let us all know what you are seeing! If you are new to submitting a report (or maybe even an old hand at it) be sure and read How To Submit a Flower Report — ed. |
| Topanga State Park |
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06/21/21 |
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I was interested to see how the Trippet Ranch area of Topanga State Park is doing a month after The Palisades Fire burned through. I hiked the Musch Loop counterclockwise, taking the Nature Trail past the Visitor Center and then turning left when it crosses the fire road and then walking to Eagle Rock and then returning on the Musch Trail. About 4 miles.
This fire road appears to be the line where the firefighters held back the fire. Almost everything to the east of it is burned and very little is burned on the west side. Before arriving at the fire road I passed a group of large Indian milkweeds in full flower. They seem to have spread in the past few years. In the unburned areas there are soap root lily, slender tarweed, elderberry, California buckwheat, laurel sumac and cliff aster in bloom. On the burned side there was a surprising presence of chaparral yucca, blooming away while nothing else around it even looked alive. There was also a lovely Plummer’s mariposa blooming right at the edge of the burn. Turning down the unburned Musch trail I saw chamise, telegraph weed, heart leaf penstemon, sawtooth golden bush, morning glory and deerweed. I saw a single remaining notable penstemon. Where the trail returns to the parking lot there are gum plant and narrow leaf milkweed. By the dry pond there is blooming vervain and wild rose. — Dorothy Steinicke 
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| Topanga State Park |
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06/08/21 |
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Santa Ynez Canyon is one of my very favorite places to hike, particularly in the summer when everything else is parched but interesting flowers still persist here. However, in this year of drought, there has been much less in bloom here than in previous years. Then the Palisades Fire hit in the middle of May.
Topanga State Park has just reopened and we were interested to see how Santa Ynez had been impacted. On entering, it looked fairly normal, if dryer than usual. The magnificent Humboldt lilies are blooming. Otherwise there was heart leaf penstemon, California buckwheat, honeysuckle and some lovely chaparral yucca in bloom. Then we came to the part that burned. The canyon floor is nearly unrecognizable with the landscape so opened. An encouraging thing was the sight of giant rye grass already sprouting up out of the ashes. Climbing up into what is normally the chaparral section the landscape is charred as far as the eye can see. I am hoping this coming winter will be a good rain season and we will see the beginning of recovery here. — Dorothy Steinicke 
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| Zuma Canyon |
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05/27/21 |
I took a hike in Zuma Canyon, walking along the northern shoulder of the canyon and then coming down to walk along the dry creek bed. It is startling to see the canyon in May looking as though it is August. This year’s drought has prevented there being much of a spring bloom here. The overwhelming colors are tan and gold, mercifully punctuated by the deep green spots of recovering trees. That is what is inspiring here; the recovery of oaks, sycamores, black walnuts and elderberries that are resprouting after being burned in The Woolsey Fire two and a half years ago. Elderberries are the only flower blooming in profusion. There are examples of cliff aster, telegraph weed, golden bush, Indian paintbrush, slender tarweed, golden yarrow and ashy leaf buckwheat but they are stunted in size and few and far between. I saw a single grouping of good looking California everlasting growing in the shade of a recovering oak. There was some bush mallow in bud and a single lovely blooming yucca. It gives comfort to see the trees resprouting lushly and I know that eventually this canyon will look much like it did three years ago, but I also know that it won’t happen during my lifetime.
— Dorothy Steinicke
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| Rancho Sierra Vista/Point Mugu State Park |
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04/09/21 |
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On 4/9 I hiked Upper Sycamore Canyon, California State Park Unit from the Rancho Sierra Vista (NPS) main parking lot down to the tarmac on Big Sycamore Canyon trail. Along this trail there are some patches of arroyo lupine, bush sunflower, wishbone bush, chia, deerweed, and morning glory. About a mile in, just past the wooden bridge, take the marked trail for the Upper Sycamore Canyon. Saw a decent diversity of wildflowers, not in large numbers but more than I have seen on other hikes in the Santa Monicas. There was California Everlasting, fiesta flower, wild cucumber, Mexican elderberry, ceanothus, hummingbird sage, purple nightshade, canyon sunflower, bush lupine, chaparral pea, henbit, miner's lettuce, black sage, popcorn flower, filaree, fringepod, golden yarrow and the Humboldt lily is starting to grow. We returned via the Danielson Fire Road going west back through Rancho Sierra Vista.
— Kathy Jonokuchi
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| Circle X Ranch |
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04/06/21 |
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The Mishe Mokwa Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains is a wondrous and dynamic place. The area was entirely burned in the Woolsey Fire of November 2019. In the two succeeding springs the flower displays have been very impressive. However those were two years of good rainfall. This year has been well below average in rain and as a consequence there are many fewer flowers. Still, it is a worthy and rewarding trail to hike.
We walked the loop counter-clockwise going first to Split Rock and then to Sandstone Peak before completing the loop. The trail up from the Mishe Mokwa Trailhead is still visually bare since the fire although there are flowers to be seen; particularly shiny lomatium, stinging lupine, morning glory and some collarless poppies. We saw two Catalina mariposa lilies. Just beyond where the trail joins the loop, look to the left to see the delightful chocolate lilies. There are also blue dicks, deerweed, virgin’s bower, purple nightshade and globe gilia. In some of the rockier sections there is stick leaf, blue larkspur, goldfields and the occasional padres shooting stars. The stretch between Split Rock and Sandstone Peak was fairly bare of flowers and plants generally. It is an exposed uphill stretch that is not too rewarding. In the shade of Sandstone Peak you again see flowers, prickly phlox, bush lupines, canyon sunflowers and greenbark and big pod ceanothus. The flowers are not nearly as exciting as the were in the past two years but it is still inspiring to see the landscape in the act of recovering from fire. — Dorothy Steinicke 
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| Point Dume Nature Preserve |
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04/05/21 |
I visited Point Dume Nature Preserve in Malibu, part of the California State Parks on 4/2 and 4/5 to see all the giant coreopsis in full glory. On the 4/2 visit, we saw 2 pairs of California Gray Whale feeding right off the point with the California Sea Lions surfing the waves nearby. There were some California poppies, wishbone bush, bush sunflower and deer weed as well. We parked on Westward Beach Road right before the paid lot and walked about 1/2 mile to the point. Best to go around 8am so you can get free parking and avoid the crowds on the narrow
— Kathy Jonokuchi
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| Red Rock Canyon Park |
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04/04/21 |
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This is an easy hike of about 1 mile in and same distance back, with a few hundred feet of elevation gain to the ridge top at the top of the trail, with great views. A wide trail that allows easy distancing. Start by 9:30 am for shadier conditions. The entrance road is potholed dirt for last half mile, so take it slow.
Good displays of Ceanothus (blue), yellow fiddle neck, purple nightshade, bright pink phlox, and white Mariposa lily. One patch of bright orange (not red) woolly paintbrush. Bush sunflowers and crimson pitcher sage just starting. Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority, $5 fee, Off Old Topanga Cyn Rd. — Carl Sunshine |
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| Topanga State Park |
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03/17/21 |
We came in through the entrance at Vereda de la Montura in Pacific Palisades. The canyon floor is cool and green with lots of new plants emerging. But Santa Ynez Creek is entirely dry and there is very little in flower. We saw some purple nightshade and a single blooming sweet pea. Climbing up into the chaparral we saw more in bloom. There were quite a few big pod ceanothus, California everlasting, wishbone flower, wild cucumber and a few blue dicks. Not really very much for the middle of March, but still a lovely and refreshing hike.
— Dorothy Steinicke
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| Corral Canyon |
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03/11/21 |
The Sara Wan Trail is still showing the impact of the Woolsey Fire of November 2018 and now also showing the impact of this year’s drought. I went the day after a half inch of rain fell, hopeful that some blooms might have been spurred. But they really haven’t. I was shocked at how few flowers were present and even at how little green there was on the hillsides. The creek at the canyon bottom was completely dry. The lower portion of the loop trail has representatives of nine species in bloom; bush sunflower, deer weed, purple nightshade, morning glory, hubby’s phacelia, canyon sunflower, Indian paintbrush, wishbone flower and wild cucumber but none of it was profuse. Still, it is a lovely hike with ocean views. While I was walking I watched red tail hawks and a northern harrier swooping over the landscape.
— Dorothy Steinicke
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| Topanga State Park |
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02/08/21 |
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I started out of the Trippet Ranch parking lot and walked up the trail to the fire road and then back down to the parking lot.
The Trippet pond is still entirely dry. The meadows are starting to show a little green. However there is not much in bloom yet. Nothing is blooming in profusion and the only blooming plants that are present in any quantity are wild cucumber and big pod ceanothus. Those are coming into bloom and will probably be profuse in a week or two. Otherwise it is a treasure hunt. There is some big berry manzanita, sagebrush, chaparral currant, California everlasting, purple nightshade and the very start of fuchsia flowering gooseberry in bloom. There is a little cliff aster, California buckwheat and telegraph weed still hanging on. Returning on the fireroad there were a few more treasures. A small spot of bright yellow turned out to be our native rockrose. A spot of bright pink was prickly phlox. — Dorothy Steinicke 
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| Zuma Canyon |
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01/26/21 |
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The impact of the Woolsey Fire is still very apparent in Zuma Canyon. The fact that we are way behind in winter rain isn't helping either. Still, it is a lovely place to hike. I took the trail up the north shoulder and then hiked on the creek trail as far as one can easily walk.
The flowers are very sparse. There are a very few autumn blooms; cliff aster, sawtooth goldenbush, and ashy leaf buckwheat. The spring flowers are just barely started; bush sunflower, purple nightshade, deerweed, wild cucumber, mulefat, telegraph weed and morning glory. There is not much of anything. The creek has no water until you get about a mile east of the parking lot. Still, it is quiet and peaceful, and if you are able to come on a weekday you will pretty much have the place to yourself. — Dorothy Steinicke 
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| Topanga State Park |
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01/01/21 |
| A New Year's Day hike from Trippet Ranch to Will Rogers. Not too much in bloom despite the inch and a half of rain a few days earlier. The most impressive blooms were the chaparral current in both its usual pink and less common white variety. It wasn't abundant but the occasional bushes were filled with flowers. The other surprise were the blooming tree poppies around Eagle Springs. I was also surprised to find blooming white and purple nightshades. Otherwise there were the expected California and ashy buckwheats, California everlasting, cliff aster, telegraph weed and twiggy wreath plant. I good start to a new year. — Dorothy Steinicke | ||
Contact Information:
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Santa Monica Mountains NRA 401 West Hillcrest Drive Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 805-370-2301 www.nps.gov/samo |
If you would like to contribute a wildflower report you can e-mail the editor at: SMMWildFlowers@gmail.com |
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What's Blooming
on the web at
www.smmflowers.org/whatsblooming
or go to
www.nps.gov/samo
click on
"Plan Your Visit" > "Things to Do" > "Look for Wildflowers"
