Page Revised: 04/22/2012
Available Reviews Rancho Sierra Vista Malibu Creek State Park Zuma/Trancas Canyons Circle X Ranch Point Mugu State Park Triunfo Canyon Park Upper Las Virgenes Canyon	Date of Review 04/14. 04/14. 04/13 & 04/12 & 03/10. 04/08 & 02/25. 04/02 & 03/08. 03/08. 03/01.
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There has been little to report as the lack of rain in the early spring has kept things pretty barren this year. The dust has been knocked down by the recent rains but things are still unusually dry. One indication is how little water there is in many of our seasonal creeks. These creeks are largely spring fed and the lack of water is a result of very low water tables. That said, You can find flowers if you go looking for them. Many things that you would normally find blooming at this time of year can indeed be found, but expect much lower quantities, more restricted distribution, and in some cases dwarfed or otherwise stunted versions. Recent rains have greened things up nicely but we still are not seeing even an average year’s worth of flowers. Some plants have bounced back well after the rains. For example, a month ago the black sage was dropping its leaves but now they are looking lush and flowering nicely. However that response to the rain seems more the exception than the rule. Some areas are clearly doing better than others. If you see something noteworthy and want to send in a report my email address is down at the bottom. As always, I'll see you on the trails. – ed.

Rancho Sierra Vista		Satwiwa Loop to Waterfall	Date: 04/14
	The flowers continue to be sparse, some are late with the cool April temps, but recent rains and warm weather are improving the season—with the waterfall running nicely, and a good flowing creek at the first crossing. Highlights among the 25 native species included wishbone bush, collarless California poppies, Parry’s phacelia, Mariposa lilies, fiesta flowers, hummingbird sage, and golden yarrow. While we didn’t see the usual rattlesnakes—always active in warm weather—we did hear some reports, and came across a 4-foot gopher snake stretched across the trail (plus an amorous pair of California tree frogs at the waterfall itself—ribbit). The “green meadows” (of weeds) along the way are still pretty but starting to turn, and willow seeds are flying around like snowflakes. It’s definitely time to soak up some classic spring weather, wildflowers, and waterfalls! – Jack Gillooly.

Malibu Creek State Park		Backbone Trail	Date: 04/14
	Today’s hike was the sixth leg of the 2012 National Park Service Backbone Trail Hike.  We are hiking west to east covering two segments per month.  This hike we reversed our direction and started up near Saddle Peak and ended up on Malibu Canyon Road. Today we hiked as a late winter rain had just moved east.   Conditions were muddy in places, but our pallets were moistened by the 66 native plants we counted in bloom.   Several species of ceanothus were in bloom along with lupines, clovers, oaks, sages, along with a variety other perennials.  Though low quantities within species, there were a large number of shy annuals: snap dragon, wall flower, blue larkspur, gilia, Chinese houses, clarkia, blue eyed grass, fiesta, to name a few. – R. Waycott (and others).

Lower Zuma Canyon		Date: 04/13
	Lot’s of opportunistic non-native annual plants are blooming wherever possible on the Zuma Loop Trail. Since non-natives have to grow fast and bloom profusely, they have been taking advantage of the hot/cold strange weather we have been having. Those include the usual suspects: milk thistle, mustard, yellow clover, etc. If you can ignore those non-natives there are a fair amount of things to see on the first half (the canyon bottom part) of the Zuma loop trail. The California walnuts are full of catkins. Both California everlasting and two-tone everlasting can be seen. Look at, but don’t touch, the poison oak flowers (very small, very pale white flowers) which are blooming profusely. For more serious botanists, you can see a large milkwort plant in early bloom at the first trail intersection. The red-purple flowers are small, but quite noticeable. Milkwort is the only member of it’s species that occurs in the Santa Monica Mountains. Snowberry (pale pink flowers) and hedge nettle (more intense pink flowers) are blooming as you descend closer to a moist, but dry streambed. Many black sage plants are blooming, as well as fuchsia flowered gooseberry, and both bush and canyon sunflower. The trail had several patches where it was quite muddy, but it was easy to avoid the mud. We had to turn back at the last stream crossing, as the water was too deep to cross. I would give this trail * * * for nice blooms, with promise of more things to come. – Sheila Braden.

Zuma/Trancas Canyons		Backbone Trail	Date: 04/12
	One an overcast day between rainstorms, there was much blooming and much to see. Immediately off the Newton Canyon trailhead, a magnificent hummingbird sage bloom fourteen inches tall. Along the stream by the waterfall are spreads of periwinkles, and their blues harmonize with the dark forest growth. Wood mint is blooming now, the entire mint family is well represented. Other unusual finds in the woodland include coffee fern, a lot of caterpillar phacelia, horehound, fiesta flower, common eucrypta, canyon sunflower and miner's lettuce as well as wishbone bush, cliff aster, purple nightshade, California everlasting, bush monkey flower and canyon sunflower. Higher up there is slender sunflower, wooly blue curls, blue-eyed grass, black sage. Sprays of blue-eyed grass, falcons vocalizing and fog-shrouded ridgelines await you in Upper Zuma canyon. Ceanothus and elderberry are blooming. – Alexander Walker.

Circle X ranch		Mishe Mokwa Loop	Date: 04/08
	I’ve been hoping the recent rains would bring back some flowers and certainly it has prevented a complete collapse of the flowering season but there’s still not too much to see. As I’ve noted elsewhere, if you have sharp eyes and look diligently you can usually find a good fraction of the species you would see in a better year. We saw about 50 species in bloom which is perhaps a bit better than half of what this trail might yield in a good year. The other thing to note is that the quantities are way, way less than usual. Consequently, unless you are watching carefully you probably won’t count anywhere near 50 different flowers on this trail right now. Flowering highlights included deerweed, black sage, California buckwheat, blue dicks, golden yarrow, chamise, Catalina mariposa lily, woolly blue curls, at least a few different popcorn flowers, a couple of the small lotuses, chia, winter cress, purple nightshade, silver puffs, virgin’s bower, globe gilia, blue larkspur, several members of the celery with their tiny green flowers, coast gold fields, a couple of different phacelias, yellow pincushion, microseris, owl’s clover, Chinese houses, a very late chaparral current, fiesta flower, three different ceanothus, prickly phlox, bush monkey flower, morning glory, Eastwood manzanita, and silver lotus. – ed.

Point Mugu State Park		La Jolla Canyon Trail	Date: 04/02
	Every week there is a new surprise here. Catalina mariposa lilies are blooming by the hundreds, mostly on south-facing slopes in grassland. Great stalks of star lilies are hiding under sagebrush. In La Jolla Canyon, scarlet pimpernel can be discovered in shade along the trail; it is an attractive salmon color. Purple sage is also blooming. Around the pond numerous blooms are seen, including vervain, golden yarrow and blue-eyed grass. There were phainopepla singing in the oaks in La Jolla Valley, far from their regular habitat; their call is one query-like note repeated for an hour. All the flowers from last month are still blooming. I noticed with anticipation many buds are ready to burst open. – Alexander Walker.

Zuma/Trancas Canyons		Backbone Trail	Date: 03/10
	NPS Sponsored Backbone Hike number 4: Encinal Road to Latigo Road. This hike passes through several different ecosystems including chaparral, coastal sage scrub, oak woodland and riparian woodland. I was hopeful that the large number of sheltered environments would yield more flowers than I'd seen elsewhere but just about everywhere along the trail things were severely dry. As a consequence we did not see very many flowers. All told we saw over 60 different species in bloom, which was a fair number, but most were present in only small numbers (and I'm including the ever-present "weeds" in this count as well.) In a typical year this would only rank as a poor showing, but it seems about par for this year. On the other hand the weather was fabulous, the trail beautiful and well-maintained, and everyone had a great time. Flowering "Highlights" included: black sage, bush monkey flower, quite a bit of deerweed, golden yarrow, three different species of ceanothus, canyon sunflower, a few left-over wild cucumber, purple nightshade, a couple of early chamise, a nice stand of California collarless poppy, hedge nettle, wild morning glory, one Parry's phacelia, quite a bit of wishbone bush, both two-tone and California everlasting, cliff aster, a few woolly blue curls, prickly phlox, a little bit of caterpillar phacelia, some fiddleneck, both bush and bi-color lupine, fiesta flower, a scattering of popcorn flower, blue dicks, both fuchsia-flowered and chaparral gooseberry, milkmaids, Indian warrior, Indian paintbrush, vervain, California figwort, blue larkspur, lace pod, virgin's bower, some early crimson pitcher sage, and a few eucrypta. – ed.

Point Mugu State Park		La Jolla Canyon Trail	Date: 03/08
	The eradication of non-native grasses in La Jolla Valley is now completed and the valley has greened up and regained much of the aspect of earlier times. The tall Harding grass has been cut in the valley's northwestern edges. You are sure to see wild hyacinth now, and near the pond there is blue-eyed grass. In the La Jolla Canyon woodland I found hedge nettle blooming, fuchsia-flowered gooseberry, ceanothus, morning glory, bush monkey flower. I found white nightshade blooming alongside canyon sunflower in several locations. Woolly paintbrush is appearing, and wishbone bush, California encelia and red-stemmed filaree. The trumpet-shaped datura blooms show a variety of white and blue hues, fullest at mid-day. Giant coreopsis "forests" add to the primeval aspect of rugged La Jolla canyon. There are colonies of star lily and shooting stars in the brushy undergrowth near La Jolla Valley Trail and it's intersection with La Jolla Canyon Trail. The pond area is a good place to find vervain. The shooting stars are about done. At this time of year fennel is barely visible, just a pleasant fragrance. Helicopters are beginning to haunt the interior valleys of Mugu park so it's best to pick a windy day if you are seeking to escape city noise. The park is one of the area's foremost locations to view native plant and animal species. – Alexander Walker.

Triunfo Canyon Park		Misc. Trails	Date: 03/08
	This is one of my favorite places to send people who want a beautiful site that is close to the 101 corridor. As elsewhere this year it was pretty dry and many of the regular flowers are few or non-existent. I counted about 60 different species in bloom but that required a couple hours of dedicated walking on a significant cross-section of its many trails and includes the standard weeds one sees everywhere. Going over my list I'm not sure what to call a "highlight" since most things were present in such low quantity it would be easy to miss almost everything on the list. In any case highlights include deerweed, wild morning glory, wild peony, a few different ceanothus, fiesta flower, Chinese houses, blue dicks, fiddle neck, California poppy, miner's lettuce, popcorn flower, bush monkey flower, woodland star, purple nightshade, black sage (but some individuals are already dropping their leaves!), two-toned everlasting, fuchsia-flowered gooseberry, canyon sunflower, woolly blue curls, and one chocolate lily. In a normal year I would rate this showing as "fair" at best. Hopefully things will improve. – ed.

Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space (Ahmanson Ranch)		Date: 03/01
	Today I actually saw the first mariposa of the season, and it was calochortus catalinae. This was in the Ahmanson Ranch preserve. I entered from the Vanowen entrance and proceeded west, then south to the Victory entrance. The mariposa (just one so far, but could see others getting ready) was on the eastern side of the trail, which I believe is termed Moore Canyon Road. There are hundreds of blue dicks as well, these have been here for a month or so, also golden fiddlenecks are increasing from the beginning of the trail and other spots. Solanum xanti has been around for over a month as well, and the unfortunate mustard. Less showy bloomers include baccharis salicifolia and baccharis pilularis, juglans is getting ready. – Adam Lieberman.

Circle X Ranch		Backbone Trail	Date: 02/25
	This was hike number three of the Backbone Series sponsored by the National Park Service. We picked up the trail at mile marker 9.1 and hiked west to the Mishe Mokwa trailhead. Most of us also did the new section to the west on the open portion of the Etz Maloy Motorway and down to Mulholland. As noted elsewhere things were pretty dry on most of this trail with only a modest number of flowers in bloom. The best portions for flowers were the long north-west facing section and some of the deeper ravines. These sections are more sheltered from the sun and consequently not nearly as dried out. About 40 different species seen, but this includes the standard weeds one sees everywhere. Overall a modest showing but it is still a bit early in the season for many flowers. Highlights include three different species of ceanothus, canyon sunflower, bush sunflower, fuchsia flowered gooseberry, a few chaparral gooseberry, blue-eyed grass, a couple of different everlastings, deerweed, bush monkey flower, golden yarrow, some early black sage, Eastwood manzanita, wild morning glory, wild cucumber, cliff aster, rock rose, wish-bone bush, prickly phlox, blue larkspur, hedge nettle, and shooting stars. Further on to the west a few additional species were noted by other hikers in the group including wooly blue curls and elderberry. A decent showing given the dry year we are having. – ed.

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 you can e-mail the editor at: Tony_Valois@partner.nps.gov or phone Tony at 310-457-6408
What’s Blooming on the web at www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom or go to www.nps.gov/samo and click on “What’s Blooming”