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Page Revised: 02/03/09 |
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Available Site Reviews Hondo Canyon Circle X Ranch Red Rock Canyon State Park Point Mugu State Park Peter Strauss Ranch Cold Creek Preserve Rancho Sierra Vista |
Date of Reviews 1/13. 1/12 & 11/19 &
11/11. 1/10. 1/9. 1/6. 1/3. 11/6. |
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Photo highlights from the current
flower reports: What's
Blooming Now Photos of over seven
hundred species: Wildflowers of the Santa Monica
Mountains Past what's Blooming
flower reports: Archive The
Calendar of Events for the Santa Monica Mountains NRA Outdoors |
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Just a very quick update for the Ceanothus lovers in the crowd. The Bigpod Ceanothus is still doing fairly
well up here at Circle X Ranch. The week
of rains we got a couple of weeks ago knocked it back quite a bit and some of
the plants have flowers that still show that.
I’ve noticed quite a few are beginning to drop their blossoms as
well and the hills don’t seem as white this morning as just a couple of
days ago. If the weather stays warm the Bigpod season will soon be over, but then,
it is just the first of our six Ceanothus
species to bloom. I’ve made several changes to
the layout of the Wildflower website lately and one
of them is a new search called What’s
Blooming Now. I will try to keep
this up to date with the highlights of the flower sightings people have
reported here. As always, if you have any comments
or questions, or wish to file a flower report, you can email me at address at
the bottom of this page. – ed. |
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Hondo Canyon |
Backbone
Trail |
Date: 1/13 |
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Backbone Trail, Hondo Canyon - trail
head at Old Topanga. Bermuda buttercup (or Oxalis); California polypody;
California buttercup; California everlasting; California lace fern; Cliff
aster [White aster]; Coastal wood fern [California wood fern]; Coffee fern;
Crimson Pitcher Sage [Hummingbird sage]; Dwarf chaparral broom [coyote
brush]; Goldback fern; Milkmaids; Mustard, (Mediterranean ?); Purple
nightshade; Red-stemmed filaree; White chaparral currant; Wild sweet pea;
Wild cucumber; Ceanothus (Hoary leaved Ceanothus ?) – Sarah
Dickey. |
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Circle X Ranch |
Misc.
Trails |
Date: 1/12 |
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I’ve looked at several of the
trails recently and we are beginning to see a few of the early annuals just
beginning to bloom. Of the thirty or
so different flowers I’ve seen many are individuals who’s
siblings are nowhere near flowering yet.
Highlights (not including the standout individuals) include popcorn
flower, red stem filaree, an increasing number of bigpod ceanothus, deerweed,
California buckwheat, several two-tone everlasting, many wild cucumber, lace
pod, some hold-out cudweed aster, purple nightshade, a few of the different
celeries, the chaparral current still doing well, bigberry manzanita,
wishbone bush, a few shooting stars (but you have to look carefully to find
them,) a few dried-up California fuchsia and some nice stands of California
bay trees. By the way, this is the best time of
year to visit Sandstone Peak if you want to see the islands. I’ve seen the distant San Nicolas and
even San Clemente a number of times recently. – ed. |
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Red Rock Canyon State
Park |
Calabasas
Peak Motorway |
Date: 1/10 |
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Calabasas Peak Motorway - Red Rock [fire]
Rd. Mustard (Mediterranean?); Cliff aster [White Aster]; Crimson Pitcher Sage
[Hummingbird sage]; Dwarf chaparral broom [coyote brush]; Purple nightshade;
Red-stemmed filaree; White chaparral currant; Wild cucumber; Wild sweet pea;
California peony; Canyon dodder; Downy indian paintbrush; Mule fat;
California Prickly phlox; Slender sunflower; Southern tauschia; Sweet
alyssum; Popcorn Flower (variety ?); Wishbone plant [Wishbone bush]; Woolly
indian paintbrush – Sarah
Dickey. |
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Cheeseboro Canyon |
Cheeseboro Canyon Trail |
Date: 1/9 |
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Cheeseboro Canyon - Cheeseboro Canyon Trail. Mustard
(Mediterranean?); Purple nightshade; White chaparral currant; Wild cucumber; California
peony; Canyon dodder; California Prickly phlox; California Blackberry – Sarah
Dickey. |
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Point Mugu State Park |
Backbone
Trail |
Date: 1/9 |
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This hike is the first of the NPS
sponsored Backbone Trail hikes in the 2010 series. We will be hiking from
west to east, two sections of the Backbone Trail each month. The section done
on this hike began at the coast at the Ray Miller Trailhead, proceeded up the
Ray Miller Trail, along the Overlook Fire Road, down the Wood Canyon Trail,
then north along the Sycamore Canyon Fire Road to the Danielson multi-use
area. It is still too early to see huge numbers of flowers, but including
scattered holdouts from last season and a few pioneering individuals ahead of
their relatives we saw over thirty different species in bloom. Only a few of these could really be said to
be in bloom right now. Flowering highlights included wild cucumber,
bladderpod, wishbone bush, a growing number of early bigpod ceanothus,
rattlesnake weed (the low prostrate one), oxalis, deerweed, chaparral
current, a very nice prickly phlox, some mostly finished cudweed aster, and
one fuchsia-flowered gooseberry. – ed. |
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Peter Strauss Ranch |
Cheeseboro Canyon Trail |
Date:
1/6 |
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Mustard (Mediterranean ?); Wild
cucumber; California peony; California Prickly phlox; Coastal wood fern
[California wood fern]; Coffee fern; Goldback fern; Milkmaids; California
Maiden-hair fern; Chickweed; Fiddlenecks (Common) – Sarah
Dickey. |
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Cold Creek Preserve |
Stunt High Trail |
Date: 1/3 |
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Stunt High Trail (return along Stunt
Road) California polypody; California everlasting;
California peony; California sunflower [Bush sunflower]; Cliff aster (White
Aster); Coastal wood fern [California wood fern]; Coffee fern; Cream bush;
Goldback fern; Greenbark ceanothus; Hairy-leaved ceanothus; Lupines; Mustard
(Mediterranean ?); Milkmaids; Purple nightshade; Red monardella ; Red-stemmed
filaree; Wild cucumber; Wild sweet pea; Wishbone plant [Wishbone bush] – Sarah
Dickey. |
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Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area 401 West Hillcrest
Drive 805-370-2301 www.nps.gov/samo |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report: e-mail: or phone
Tony at 310-457-6408 |
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What’s Blooming on the web at www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom
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