Page Revised: 4/4/08
Available Site Reviews Paramount Ranch Topanga State Park Circle X Ranch Palo Comado Cold Creek preserve Griffith Park Peter Strauss Ranch Rocky Oaks Triunfo Cyn. Park Las Virgenes Cyn Point Mugu State Park Lake Eleanor Open Space Castro Crest Area Rancho Sierra Vista Upper Zuma/Trancas Cyns	Date of Review 3/30/08. 3/29/08. 3/28/08, 3/22/08, 3/14/08, 2/18/08. 3/28/08. 3/27/08, 3/8/08. 3/26/08. 3/25/08. 3/24/08. 3/24/08, 3/22/08. 3/22/08. 3/19/08, 3/1/08. 3/10/08. 3/9/08, 3/8/08. 3/2/08. 2/23/08.
What's Blooming photo gallery: http://www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom/bloom.htm What's Blooming archive: http://www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom/archive/index.htm Calendar of Events: http://www.nps.gov/samo/planyourvisit/outdooractivities.htm

Paramount Ranch		Misc. Trails	Date: 3/30/08
	Throughout the park: Purple Owl's Clover, Blue Dicks, Collarless California Poppy, and Stinging Lupine. On the Hacienda / Witches Wood trails plus the loop through the meadow on the trail connecting the Hacienda and Coyote Canyon trails: Johnny Jump-up, Caterpillar Phacelia, Parry's Phacelia, Bajada Lupine, and Spring Vetch. On the Medicine Woman / Backdrop / Ebb Tide and Medial Creek trails: Blue Larkspur, Globe Gilia, Black Sage, Prickly Phlox, Purple Nightshade, Miner's Lettuce, Our Lord's candle, Bush Sunflower, Yellow Monkey Flower, Common Fiddleneck, Caterpillar Phacelia, Succulent Lupine, Collar Lupine, Red Maids, Henbit, Periwinkle, and Vinca major. (Sarah Dickey)
	Rating: NR

Topanga State Park		Date: 3/29/08
	Woolly Blue-curls, Fiesta Flower, Common Vervain, Scarlet Pimpernel, White Nightshade, Purple Nightshade, Wild Radish (plants with both pink and white blossoms), Tree Tobacco, Sierra False Bindweed, Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry, Twining Snapdragon, California Buckwheat, Stinging Lupine, Black Sage, Caterpillar Phacelia, Rock-rose, Bermuda Buttercup, and Red Maids. (Sarah Dickey)
	Rating: NR

Circle X Ranch		Grotto Trail & misc.	Date: 3/28/08
	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)
	Rating: Fair

Palo Comado		China Flat Trail	Date: 3/28/08
	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)
	Rating: NR

Cold Creek Preserve		Stunt High Trail	Date: 3/27/08
	Blue-eyed Grass, Giant Horsetail, Prickly Phlox, Crimson Pitcher Sage, Bigpod Ceanothus, Wild Sweet Pea, California Peony, Chinese Houses, Purple Nightshade, Beach Evening Primrose, Canyon Sunflower, Milkmaids, Blue Dicks (very common) Fiesta Flower, Baby Blue-eyes, Catalina Mariposa Lily, Purple Owl's Clover, Bush Monkey Flower, Mule Fat, Sun-cup, Bur-clover, Popcorn Flower, Common Fiddleneck, Red Maids, and Chia. (Sarah Dickey)
	Rating: NR

Griffith Park		Misc. trails	Date: 3/26/08
	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 which always blooms abundantly after rains. The burn areas are profusely covered with Wild Canterbury Bells and Blue Dicks (also known as Wild Hyacinth) and extremely healthy looking. Blue and white Ceanothus are also blooming throughout the park. The rare and endangered Nevin’s Barberry can be found; its small yellow flowers were in bloom a few weeks ago. (Carol and Ron Brusha)
	Rating: NR

Peter Strauss Ranch		Peter Strauss Trail	Date: 3/25/08
	Chocolate Lily, Greenbark Ceanothus, Wild Sweet Pea, Milkmaids, Bigpod Ceanothus, Hoary-leaved Ceanothus, Common Chickweed, Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry, Wild Cucumber, and Henbit. (Sarah Dickey)
	Rating: NR

Rocky Oaks		R.O. Loop to Pond Trail	Date: 3/24/08
	The lower areas and westbound trail had a good selection, but only a few were showy: CA Poppies, Greenbark Ceanothus, Woolly Lomatium, and Prickly Phlox. Other notables on the west-side were Hoary-leaved Ceanothus, Johnny Jump-ups, Virgin’s Bower, Snakeroot, Windmill Pink and some lingering Chocolate Lilies. Next to the brimming pond — with Ring-necked Ducks, Mallards, and a Pied-billed Grebe — Coast Goldfields were looking good, and most trees in the area were flowering: Coast Live Oaks, Willows, and Scrub Oaks. Oddly enough, most chaparral shrubs were holding off, with very little sage, ceanothus, and others compared to bumper years. But it should improve a bit over the next few weeks, as greenery and buds were everywhere. (Jack Gillooly)
	Rating: Fair

Triunfo Creek Park		Pentachaeta Trail	Date: 3/24/08
	As one of the best mid- to late-blooming trails in the SM Mts, this is one to watch over the next few weeks — since many species were profuse, but other annuals and shrubs were just starting to bloom. The best included blankets of Coast Goldfields mixed with Ground Pink and Angel’s Gilia, with lots of Globe Gilia, Fiddlenecks, Popcorn, Lace Pod, and Woolly Lomatium along the trail. Just emerging were Owl’s Clover, Dove Lupine, CA Poppies, Woolly Blue Curls, Turkey Pea, and Fiesta Flower, as the last of the Chocolate Lilies and Fuschia-flowered Gooseberry were scattered. Look for lots of Blue Dicks and Soap Lilies soon, plus the larger shrubs (and pentachaeta). (Jack Gillooly)
	Rating: Good

Circle X Ranch		Mishe Mokwa Loop	Date: 3/22/08
	The benefits of this years' rains are evident on the Mishe Mokwa Trail. Standing in the Sandstone Peak trailhead parking lot blooming deerweed, black sage, California buckwheat, blue dicks and popcorn flower are all visible. Hiking up a bit we got to see the beautiful parry's phacelia, collarless poppies, wild cucumber, common fiddleneck, purple nightshade and prickly phlox. Approaching the peak we come to hairy-leaved ceanothus, shiny lomatium and Eastwood manzanita. Heading down to Split Rock we came to the meadow that is filled with shooting stars. There is also skullcap, chaparral current and wild sweet pea. Behind the Split Rock rocks a clump of milk maids are growing. On the hike back up there is purple larkspur, virgin's bower, turkey pea, twining snapdragon, chocolate lilies, woolly blue curls and woolly lomatium. (Dorothy Steinicke)
	Rating: NR

Las Virgenes Cyn. Open Space		Misc. trails	Date: 3/22/08
	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)
	Rating: NR

Triunfo Cyn. Park		Misc. trails	Date: 3/22/08
	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)
	Rating: Good

Point Mugu State park		La Jolla Canyon and La Jolla Valley Loop trails	Date: 3/19/08
	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)
	Rating: Good

Circle X Ranch		Mishe Mokwa Trail	Date: 3/14/08
	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)
	Rating: Fair

Lake Eleanor Open Space		Date: 3/10/08
	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)
	Rating: Fair to Good (depending on where you're standing)

Castro Crest Area		Backbone Trail	Date: 3/9/08
	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)
	Rating: Fair

Castro Crest Area		Backbone Trail	Date: 3/8/08
	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)
	Rating: NR

Cold Creek Preserve		Stunt High Trail	Date: 3/8/08
	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)
	Rating: NR

Satwiwa/Rancho Sierra Vista		Wendy Loop trail	Date: 3/2/08
	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)
	Rating: Fair

Point Mugu State Park		Misc. Trails near Danielson	Date: 3/1/08
	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)
	Rating: Fair

Upper Zuma/Trancas Cyns		Backbone Trail Encinal to Kanan	Date: 2/23/08
	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)
	Rating: NR

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: e-mail: Tony_Valois@partner.nps.gov or phone Tony at 310-457-6408