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Page Revised: 4/16/07 |
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Available Sites Circle X Ranch Rancho Sierra Vista Triunfo Canyon Park Leo Carrillo State Park Rancho Sierra Vista Point Mugu State Park Cheeseboro & Palo Comado Cyns Malibu Creek State Park Zuma & Trancas Canyons |
Date of Review 4/16/07 & 4/14/07
& 4/9/07 & 3/24/07. 4/15/07. 4/12/07. 4/4/07. 3/25/07. 3/23/07. 3/21/07 3/14/07. 3/10/07. |
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What's Blooming photo gallery: http://www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom/bloom.htm |
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Circle X Ranch |
Ceanothus update |
Date: 4/16/07 |
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Just a very quick update for the
ceanothus lovers in the crowd. The
ceanothus season is winding down. You can still find individuals blooming, especially
in sheltered environments, but the big displays are over for the year. Overall the flower season this year remains
poor compared to other years we’ve had recently. (TV) |
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Rancho Sierra Vista /
Satwiwa |
Native plant garden |
Date: 4/15/07 |
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Few wildflowers are blooming
throughout the mountains because of our apparent drought, but for a short
wildflower walk, consider the native plant garden at Rancho Sierra Vista when
you visit the Satwiwa Native American Center or hike another trail in the
area. True, the garden does get water, but it has lots of blooms of
bladderpod, vervain, black sage, golden currant, monkey flower and purple
nightshade. The prickly pear cactus has lots of red fruits and the native
onions are flowering. The walk is short, but the flower rating is very good.
(SB) |
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Naturalist's rating: Very Good |
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Circle X Ranch |
Triunfo Backbone Trail |
Date: 4/14/07 |
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This past weekend the NPS sponsored
hike of the backbone trail did the section at Circle X Ranch between the
Sandstone Peak trailhead and the trailhead at about mile marker 9 on Yerba
Buena Road. This four mile section is
one of the newest but is finally getting old enough that some of the
pioneering species like the phacelias, bleeding hearts and fire poppies are
no longer quite so profuse. This trail
is especially good for views of the ocean since so much of it is on high,
steep, South facing hillsides.
Although we did not do the side trail up to Triunfo Peak, that would
normally be on my itinerary for this hike. The view on top of Triunfo is
almost as good as from Sandstone Peak. We had a very large group this time
with over thirty participants. Many of
us were quite interested in flowers so we stopped often and discussed the
flowers we encountered. We also had a
couple of geologists along and enjoyed hearing about the physical
landscape. It was a perfect day and
even the shortage of flowers didn’t dampen people’s spirits. The quantities of flowers were quite low
due to the very dry conditions.
Interestingly enough, we are still seeing reasonably typical species
counts, rather, it is the number of individuals of any given species that is
often very low. We encountered almost
seventy different species in bloom which is close to the about ninety or so I
might expect to see on this trail.
Highlights include ceanothus, purple nightshade, star lily, fuchsia
flowered gooseberry, wild cucumber, bush monkey flower, blue dicks, wild
morning glory, popcorn flower, Parry’s phacelia, mustard evening
primrose, bush lupine, wishbone bush, rock rose, sunflowers, woolly blue
curls, prickly phlox, hedge nettle, chinese houses, blue larkspur, small-flowered
meconella, fiesta flower, yellow pincushion, red-skinned onion, purple
clarkia, and deerweed. You should keep
in mind that many of the flowers I’ve listed here were present only in
very low numbers. It would be easy to
hike this tail and miss seeing many of them unless you were keeping a careful
watch. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Mostly Poor with some Fair sections |
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Triunfo Canyon Park |
Southwest end near the Reservoir |
Date: 4/12/07 |
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We didn’t have time to hike the
Pentachaeta Trail on this outing but did a quick loop up to the Las Virgenes
Reservoir and back. While everything
looks unusually dry we did see some nice flowers. The highlight is always seeing
the endangered Lyon’s pentachaeta and we were not disappointed as we
ran into a number of small populations on the social trails leading up to the
reservoir. We also encountered
California poppy, chaparral flowering ash, blue eyed grass, blue dicks, ground
pink, good numbers of the small white linanthus, a few golden yarrow, wild cucumber, woolly
blue curls, popcorn flowers, a couple of owl clover, fuchsia-flowered
gooseberry, Johnny jump-up, the delightful cream cups, some lupine, fiesta
flower, purple clarkia, and coast goldfields.
All told about forty species in bloom.
By the way, I’ve heard that the pentachaeta trail is doing OK
this year too. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Circle X Ranch |
Mishe Mokwa Loop |
Date: 4/9/07 |
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We did the loop clockwise on April 7,
(going to Sandstone Peak before Split Rock).
I had low flower expectations on this hike. I did it a month ago and there wasn't much
in bloom and there hasn't been any rain since. To my surprise things are blooming quite
nicely. Some things, larkspur and
saxifrage, actually seem to be doing better than in average years. At the Sandstone Peak trailhead there
is lots of blooming deerweed. It
accompanies you up the steep climb along with some black sage and California
everlasting. As you get closer to the
peak there is a lot of prickly phlox and hoary leaf ceanothus along with
popcorn flower, blue dick, purple nightshade, sticky monkey flower, wild
cucumber, shiny lomatium, chaparral current and Eastwood manzanita. From Sandstone Peak to Split Rock the
padres shooting stars have finished blooming (and a month ago they hadn't
even put up stems) there is some owl's clover, collarless poppies, larkspur,
goldfields and common fiddleneck. Climbing up from Split Rock flowers
seem to be in their own distinct patches.
First there is a small gathering of milkmaids, then saxifrage, then
mountain phacelia. Then you come on the
beautiful view of a red rock mountainside covered in the lovely blue hairy leaf
ceanothus with cream colored virgin's bower spilling over the top of it. In this area the trail and surrounding
stones are all dusted with a layer of tiny blue flowers. Back at the top there are some parry's
phacelia, mustard evening primrose and woolly blue curls. No chocolate lilies yet. (DS) |
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Naturalist's rating: Fair |
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Circle X Ranch |
Grotto Trail |
Date: 4/8/07 |
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Heading out from the group campsite
there are common fiddleneck, greenbark ceanothus, wild cucumber, purple
nightshade, California everlasting, big pod ceanothus and black sage. There is no water at all in the first
stream crossing and the second crossing is low. However patient observation showed that
there are newts in the water. A good
sign. Up the hill to the meadow there is
incredibly vivid and plentiful larkspur, Chinese houses, fiesta flowers,
popcorn flower, and star lily. In the meadow there is blue eyed grass
and vetch in great abundance. Also
wild morning glory, sticky monkey flower and blue dicks. Heading down to the grotto there are
wishbone flower, mustard evening primrose, deerweed, virgin's bower, canyon
sunflower and mountain mahogany. It seems that this dry year has been
favorable to star lilies, there are more than I recall from past years. The January freeze did dramatic
damage to many of the laurel sumac who now stand out with their dead orange
leaves. But a closer examination shows
a profusion of new sprouts bursting out of their branches much like oaks
after a fire. (DS) |
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Naturalist's rating: Fair |
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Leo Carrillo State Park |
Willow Creek and Nicholas Flat Trails |
Date: 4/4/07 |
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From the trailhead near the entrance
station to Leo Carrillo State Park, we took the Willow Creek Trail to the
right and hiked up to the junction with the Nicholas Flat Trail and back down
that trail, making it a 3mile loop. It was Spring Break and the campground
was full. We passed several hikers on the trail. The highpoint of the hike literally
and also from a flower sighting standpoint was near the trail junction. We
saw a couple groupings of fresh Scarlet Buglers, not a very common sight in
these mountains. In terms of quantity of flowers, the Wishbone Bush, Indian
Paintbrush, Minute Popcorn Flower, Blue Dick, Red-Stem Filaree and both the
California and Two-Tone Everlastings were most obvious. Tiny flowered Spurge
always like the type of decomposing shale soil found here. Not far from the
start of the Willow Creek Trail, on the south side, is a beautiful, large
Bladder Pod dripping with pods and flowers. The expected Deerweed, Santa
Barbara Locoweed, Popcorn Flower, Black Mustard, Morning Glory, Narrow-Leaved
Bedstraw, Wild Sweet Pea, Yellow Sweet Clover and Sunflower were evident, but
in smaller quantities than usual in a normal rain year. We saw a few blooming
Greenbark Ceanothus and Lemonade Berry, and a few Mustard Evening Primrose
among some Parry’s Phacelia and California Poppies. Near the entrance
to the campground we saw Wild Elderberry and Mule Fat flowering. (BE) |
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Naturalist's rating: Fair |
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Rancho Sierra Vista |
Satwiwa Loop Trail |
Date: 3/25/07 |
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On March 25th, we hiked the Satwiwa loop
at Rancho Sierra Vista. Both ponds
were dried up! Flowers that were
present were small in number. The
highlight was seeing Padre's shooting
stars. Peony had just finished. My list: morning glory, California
everlasting, California poppy, fiddleneck, wild cucumber, ceanothus, wild
radish, black mustard, blue dick, slender tarweed, filaree, locoweed, vetch,
and purple nightshade. (KJ) |
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Naturalist's rating: Fair |
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Circle X Ranch |
Sandstone Peak Trail |
Date: 3/24/07 |
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This trail is usually not the best
around for flowers but in compensation more than makes up for it by taking
you to the highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains. The views are unobstructed and on a clear
day you can easily see San Clemente seventy miles out to sea or the snow on
Old Baldy eighty mile to the East. The ceanothus is the flowering shrub to
see right now. While the bigpod
ceanothus is winding down there are still many individuals dotting the
landscape with their whitish to purplish blossoms. For me the prize is the
hairy-leaved ceanothus with its tight purple clusters of many small blossoms.
It is easy to see why some people call this shrub the “chaparral
lilac.” As you climb higher
toward the peak the bigpod and hairy-leaved give way to the whiter
hoary-leaved ceanothus which is also beginning to bloom nicely on this
trail. The other flowers worth noting
are prickly phlox, wild cucumber, deerweed, chaparral current, purple
nightshade and Eastwood manzanita.
Otherwise we saw very few flowers, both in terms of variety and
quantity. All told only a little over
two dozen different flower species were seen in bloom. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Circle X Ranch |
Mishe Mokwa loop |
Date: 3/23/07 |
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Here's one for the Circle X
area. We hiked the Mishe Mokwa /
Backbone loop on March 23 and saw the following in bloom: Big-pod, Hoary-leaved,
and Hairy-leaved Ceanothus, Peonies with buds, Prickly Phlox, Deer Weed,
Chaparral Currant, Shooting Stars, Woolly Lomatium, Blue Dick, Wild Cucumber,
Eastwood Manzanita, Coastal Lotus, Popcorn Flower. (BS) |
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Naturalist's rating: NR |
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Point Mugu State Park |
La Jolla Canyon |
Date: 3/23/07 |
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From Ray Miller Trailhead - La Jolla
Canyon trail through La Jolla Valley and return via the Backbone trail. The Giant Coreopsis in La Jolla Canyon are almost
in full bloom. Most plants had 3/4's
of their buds open. Another week and
they should be at their peak. We also
saw copious amounts of Blue Dick and Indian Paintbrush throughout the
hike. Other flowers in bloom were:
Scarlet Pimpernel, Fuchsia Flowered Gooseberry, Shooting Stars, Red Stem
Filaree, Turkish Rugging, Parry's Phacelia, Fiesta Flower, Wild Cucumber,
Purple Nightshade, Lemonade Berry, Buckwheat, Everlasting, Morning Glory,
Hedge Nettle, Greenbark Ceanothus, Buck-Brush, Blue Eyed Grass, Tree Tobacco,
Bladder Pod, California Poppy, Collarless California Poppy, Coast Wallflower,
Mustard, Deerweed, Santa Barbara Locoweed, Bush Sunflower and Chaparral
Currant. At Thornhill-Broome Beach
across Hwy 1 from the trailhead we observed Pink Sand Verbena. (R&AT) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Cheeseboro & Palo
Comado Canyons |
Misc. Trails in the Burn Area |
Date: 3/21/07 |
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Here is the list Kendra compiled from
the Wednesday's burn area scoping survey.
Species: Amsinckia menziesii, Arctostaphylos glandulosa, Baccharis
salicifolia, Calandrinia sp., Calystegia macrostegia, Camissonia californica,
Castilleja foliolosa, Ceanothus crassifolius, Cryptantha muricata,
Dendromecon rigida, Encelia californica, Eriogonum cinereum, Erodium botrys,
Erodium cicutarium, Eucrypta chrysanthemifolia, Helianthemum scoparium,
Heterotheca grandiflora, Hirschfeldia incana, Hordeum murinum, Juncus
bufonius, Leptodactylon californicum, Lessingia filaginifolia, Lotus
strigosus, Marah macrocarpus, Medicago polymorpha, Melilotus indicus, Mimulus
aurantiacus, Mirabilis californica, Muhlenbergia microsperma, Nolina
cismontana, Paeonia californica, Pectocarya linearis, Pedicularis densiflora,
Phacelia parryi, Plagiobothrys canescens, Polypogon monspeliensis, Ribes
indecorum, Salix lasiolepis, Salvia columbariae, Schismus arabicus, Solanum
xanti, Tauschia arguta. (KS & TS) |
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Naturalist's rating: NR |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Phantom Trail |
Date: 3/14/07 |
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I was on the Phantom Trail (northern
Malibu Creek SP, north of Mulholland) earlier this week (Wednesday, to be
specific), and I saw a lot of Indian Paintbrush in bloom. Not certain of the exact species, but it is
bright cardinal in color, one in which the style extrudes itself out of the
flower tube. There are also California
poppies coming out on the ridge, as well as a fair amount of ceanothus in
bloom, and not big-pod, either, in both white and 'blue'. Naturally, poison oak is beginning to put
out buds in many areas. I also saw
willow in bloom, but can't remember exactly where - been all over, trying to
get out a lot before the weather gets too hot - just that it wasn't on the
Phantom Trail, of course. I also saw a
few very small, deep purple-with-a-hint-of-red flowers that had a vague
resemblance to native geraniums (not the horticultural ones) on the southern
Phantom Trail ridge. A "belly
flower" that require getting on your stomach to really see, (JC) |
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Naturalist's rating: NR |
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Zuma and Trancas
Canyons |
backbone trail |
Date: 3/10/07 |
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Saturday, 3/10, we walked from Kanan
to Mulholland crossing the upper watersheds of Zuma and Trancas Canyons. The following
were blooming (they're listed in no particular order.) big-pod ceanothus, greenbark ceanothus,
man-root, purple nightshade, California everlasting, chaparral currant,
fuchsia-flowered, gooseberry, Indian warrior, milkmaids, hoary-leafed
ceanothus, walnut, California poppy, deerweed, mule fat, California
buckwheat, hummingbird sage, morning glory, four o'clock, coyote bush,
telegraph weed, slender sunflower, Parry's phacelia, sticky monkey
flower. The big pod was
outstanding. A lot of everlasting,
chaparral currant, man root and nightshade.
Everything else was sparse.
(RW) |
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Naturalist's rating: Fair |
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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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Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area 401 West
Hillcrest Drive 805-370-2301 |
Thank
you for your
contributions: Bob Sweet |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report: e-mail: or phone
Tony at 310-457-6408 |
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