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Page Revised: 3/9/07 |
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Available Sites Circle X Ranch Castro Crest Point Mugu State Park Malibu Creek State Park Topanga State Park Will Rogers State Historic Park |
Date of Review 3/7/07. 2/10/07. 2/6/07. 1/17/07. 11/12/06 & 10/16/06. 10/16/06. |
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What's Blooming photo gallery: http://www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom/bloom.htm |
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Circle X Ranch |
Various trails |
Date: 3/9/07 |
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The very dry conditions we’ve had
this winter has resulted in unusually few flowers so far this year. In particular, the annuals that depend on
regular winter rain to germinate their seeds are running way behind. Even the perennials have been slow to get
going. However, we are finally
beginning to see good numbers of ceanothus blooming so at least they believe
Spring is beginning. In fact, they have been so quick to pop out that
I’ve had to re-write this review since I began composing it a few days
ago The chaparral current has been
blooming for a month now and while some have already finished blooming most
are in their prime. The same can be
said for big-berry manzanita although the later blooming Eastwood manzanita
is just beginning. Individual bigpod
ceanothus shrubs have been blooming for some time but the population as a
whole is only just beginning. However,
in just the last two days a dramatic change has occurred and now they can be
seen on the hillsides at a distance.
Even a few of the other species of ceanothus can be seen blooming here
and there. The other notable right now
is the shooting star. Again, they are
just beginning but both the Mishe Mokwa trail and the Backbone trail below the
Mishe Mokwa display them well in a number of locations. I’ve also run across scattered
examples of purple nightshade, California buckwheat, deer weed, wild
cucumber, wooly lomatium, southern tauschia, silk-tassel bush, prickly phlox,
two-tone everlasting, morning glory, and a few popcorn flowers. On the Canyon View trail last weekend I
noticed that the wishbone bush looks like it is getting ready for a good year
but has not quite started blooming yet.
Along the creeks the small flowers of the mule fat are easy to miss. On the grotto trail two weeks ago we
smelled the sweet fragrance of the California bay and examined a nice display
of young ferns. A hike to Sandstone
Peak last week resulted in the poorest flower showing I have ever seen, but
the hike itself was magnificent with vistas of the offshore islands and
distant snow-capped peaks. Even the
typical roadside weeds like the mustard, filaree and groundsel seem to be
struggling to do much. The creeks are
mostly dry, and while there is water at the grotto, none of the waterfalls
are doing anything worth mentioning. On the other hand the trails are pleasantly
green and in good condition. In
summary, from a strictly flowering perspective, the hikes I’ve done so
far this year have been mostly poor, but that may change fast now that the
days are getting warmer. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Mostly Poor but with some Fair sections |
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Castro Crest |
backbone trail |
Date: 2/10/06 |
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This morning, Saturday, we walked
from Upper Solstice to Kanan (T1). It
was great weather and 22 hikers finished under their own power. The blooms we saw included (in no
particular order): mule fat, morning glory, California buckwheat, ashyleaf
buckwheat, big-pod ceanothus, man-root, two-tone everlasting, wand chicory,
purple nightshade, hillside gooseberry, chaparral currant, tree-poppy,
telegraph weed, milkmaids, bigberry manzanita, coast paintbrush California
bay, California sagebrush, (RW) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Point Mugu State Park |
La Jolla Canyon trail |
Date: 2/6/06 |
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I took a long hike in La Jolla Canyon
on Saturday. It'd been years since I'd
been there and it was delightful. But
looking for flowers was something of a scavenger hunt. As you say on the flower web site; for
spotting blooming flowers you would have to rate it below poor. It looked like the recent freeze took out
the majority of the laurel sumac. I'm
going to try and watch it and see if they make new leaves or completely die. As to flowers there were a few
chaparral current, deer weed and some giant coreopsis starting, On the ocean bluff there was some
bladderpod in bloom. Speaking of ocean
bluffs, I also stopped by Bluffs Park in Malibu to look at the area that
burned a few weeks ago and to see if anything was starting to sprout. Little bits here and there. Another place I want to keep an eye
on. (DS) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Backbone between Castro and Tapia |
Date: 1/17/06 |
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This is all we saw walking from
Castro to Tapia, in no particular order: bigberry
manzanita, telegraph weed, coyote bush, ashyleaf buckwheat, chaparral
currant, cliff-aster, California everlasting, California fuchsia, mule fat,
woolly aster, and Plummer's Baccharis.
(RW) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Topanga State Park |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 11/12/06 |
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Today’s hike is the second of
the NPS sponsored Backbone Trail hikes in the 2006 – 2007 series. We
will be hiking east to west, one section of the Backbone Trail each month.
The weather was clear, windy and cool in the shade. We started our hike in the parking
lot at Trippet Ranch in Topanga State Park and hiked the following Backbone
Trail sections to the intersection of Stunt and Saddle Peak Roads. The first
section is called Dead Horse, then after crossing Topanga Canyon Blvd. is a
section that I call Henry Ridge to the crossing of Old Topanga Road. After
Old Topanga is a 3.5 mile climb up beautiful Hondo Canyon, the one mile of
Fossil Ridge Trail to the end of today’s hike, a total of 7 miles. A Saturday group of Backbone Trail
hikers did the same route except that they did it in the opposite direction
to take advantage of mostly downhill in that direction. I happened to be on
the Dead Horse Trail on Saturday afternoon when the Saturday group passed by,
only a half mile from their finish. I noted the “flower recording
person” had a very small list, so my expectation for our hike was very
low. His comment was that their botanizing was mostly of plant leaves. There was Sawtooth goldenbush, past
prime Coyote brush, and I noted one sprig of Chamise that had a few flowers.
Cliff and Woolly asters, and Twiggy wreathplant (Wand chicory) are still
scattered along the trail. The lower part of the Hondo Canyon Trail has a
number of Bristly ox-tongue blooming and a smattering of delicate Wand buckwheat.
Surprisingly we only saw a few Black mustard flowers on the entire hike. In
one small section a few California buckwheat were beginning to bloom. (BE) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Will Rogers SHP and
Topanga State Park |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 10/16/06 |
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Today’s hike is the first of
the NPS sponsored Backbone Trail hikes in the 2006 – 2007 series. We
will be hiking east to west, one section of the Backbone Trail each month.
The weather was overcast and cool; great for hiking. Under these conditions,
in this season, the few plants with flowers really stand out against the dark
chaparral background colors dominated by the rust color of last
season’s buckwheat. We started our hike in the parking
lot at Will Rogers State Historic Park and ended at Trippet Ranch in Topanga
State Park. From the parking lot to the Backbone Trailhead we saw Elderberry
flowers, Russian thistle, Tree tobacco and Black mustard. Climbing the Rogers
Road section we saw Ashyleaf buckwheat and Sawtooth goldenbush. Rain showers
the night before last seems to have started early blooming of the California
buckwheat and Deerweed. These blooms were not spectacular, but seeing them
this early in the new blooming cycle has somewhat of a WOW factor. As
expected we saw many of the Coyote brush and a few stands of bright red
California fuchsia that are a month or so past the end of their predicted
season. The rains have coaxed a few blossoms on some Horehound and California
everlasting. The Twiggy wreathplant is plentiful, but does not have many
leaves at this time and the flowers seem to be floating in air when viewed
from a distance. Another WOW sighting, beyond the Lone Oak (3 miles up the
trail) are several Indian pink. At our lunch stop on Cathedral Rocks we were
surrounded by Wooly or California aster. Along the Eagle Springs section of
the trail we saw many Telegraph weed and a single Slender tarplant near the
Hub. In addition to Slim aster, we were surprised to see several Bush senecio
and a small group of blooming California dodder near Eagle Springs. Some of
the white Dodder blossoms are grouped and some are spaced necklace-like along
the orange stems. Along the Musch Trail we saw Golden bush and in meadow areas,
Bull thistle, Doveweed or Turkey mullen, Common vervain and Vinegar
weed. (BE) |
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Naturalist's rating: Generally Poor |
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Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area 401 West
Hillcrest Drive 805-370-2301 |
Thank
you for your
contributions: Bonnie
Clarfield |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report: e-mail: or phone
Tony at 310-457-6408 |
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