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Page Revised: 06/18/2011 |
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Available Site Reviews Circle X Ranch Peter Strauss Ranch Westridge-Canyonback Park Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Rocky Oaks Cold Creek Canyon Malibu Creek State Park Los Robles Open Space Escondido Canyon Park Rancho Sierra Vista Point Mugu State park Topanga Canyon State Park Paramount Ranch Castro Crest Red Rock Canyon Park Triunfo Canyon Park Los Robles Open Space |
Date of Review 06/17 & 06/05 &
06/03 & 05/02. 06/12. 06/10. 06/04. 05/31. 05/30. 05/28 & 05/18 &
05/15. 05/26. 05/22. 05/21. 05/21. 05/19. 05/19. 05/15. 05/15. 05/10. 05/02. |
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Quick Links: Wildflowers
of the Santa Monica Mountains - Photos of 850 SMM species. Archive - Previous “What's Blooming” reports. Outdoors - The
Calendar of Events for the Santa Monica Mountains NRA. Wildfowers
Facebook - A place where people can share about flowers. SMM WildFlowers - The Park's popular wildflower app for the iPhone/iPad. |
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The cool weather we have experienced
this year in the later spring (and even a surprise rain!) seems to be keeping
the flowers going longer than is typical. Visitation to the Park’s
trails remains high, no doubt because the beaches have been a bit cool. There
is still time to do some flower hiking but I see there is a forecast for some
more-typical warmth in the near future. If you have been putting off a flower
hike because “it is too late in the season” now might be the time
to act. As always, if you want to contact me
or submit a flower report my email address is at the at the bottom of this
page. See you on the trails. – ed. |
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Circle X Ranch |
Mishe Mokwa Loop |
Date: 06/17/2011 |
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We hiked on a
heavily overcast day. It was cool and
the colors of the landscape were fully saturated. We had hiked two weeks ago and then it looked
as though the scarlet larkspur was on the brink of blooming so we came to see
if it was now in bloom. The answer is,
mostly, no. We did see a very few
plants in full bloom but mostly it was still more promise than even
buds. I remain surprised at the great
sense of the landscape being in full bloom even as we are heading into
July. I believe that we saw a fewer
number of varieties of plants in bloom but on this hike you will be
constantly surrounded by flowers. We started from
the northern parking lot and headed to Sandstone Peak when we joined the loop
trail. Immediately we saw California
buckwheat, deerweed, black sage, chamise, golden yarrow, Turkish rugging,
woolly blue curls, slender tarweed, yellow monkey flower and many blooming yuccas. On this spur trail we saw a single, perfect
Plummer’s mariposa lily, a harbinger of beautiful things to come. Once we joined the
loop trail we saw many goldenstar lilies, bush mallow, sticky monkey flower,
bush lupine, lance leaf dudleya, scarlet larkspur, heart leaf penstemon,
popcorn flower, farewell-to-spring and sticky madia. The star of this section of trail remains
the exquisite yellow mariposas. We
counted more than 80 in the loop.
There are a few remaining caterpillar phacelias, purple nightshade,
virgin's bower seedpods and even a little greenbark ceanothus. Once beyond Sandstone Peak we saw blue dicks, some blue
larkspur, California everlasting, chalk live forever, purple clarkia and wild
brodiaea. White pitcher sage began to
appear frequently in bloom. As we
moved into the moist areas approaching Split Rock we saw California chicory,
wild morning glory, chaparral honeysuckle, cinquefoil, vervain and peninsular
onion. There was creek monkey flower
in the creek. Flower watching is still
very good at Circle X.
– Dorothy Steinicke |
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Peter Strauss Ranch |
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Date: 06/12/2011 |
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We went to the
ranch a few hours before the free concert on Sunday so we could fit in a
hike and finish the afternoon with the concert. It was a nice
combination. There are several free concerts at the Peter Strauss Ranch
during the summer. The trailhead goes
two ways. The first right will take you back to the house and is a
short but lovely walk. If you pass the first right and go to the second
right you will go up the mountain. There were quite a few flowers
blooming. Highlights of the hike
included a lovely area at the top of the hill that was covered with slender
sunflowers and we were surrounded by two sisters butterflies. We were
also happy to find a false indigo in bloom which is somewhat rare.
There were several patches of foothill penstemon, quite a few areas with
elegant clarkias, and many canyon sunflowers in bloom. At the
beginning of the trail there were several coffeeberry plants in
bloom. Other flowers we spotted in bloom include: purple nightshade,
morning glory, pitcher sage, sticky monkey flower, fuschia gooseberry in
berry, caterpillar phacelia, sow thistle, California everlasting, popcorn
flower, heart-leaf penstemon, black sage, chamise, buckwheat, tarweed,
blue-eyed grass, scarlet pimpernel, bull thistle, California poppy,
purple clarkia, Indian pink, Turkish rugging, yucca, cud weed aster, wooly
blue curls, bedstraw, a fairly large patch of media, golden stars and
strigose lotus, Finally there was one delightful creek monkey flower at
the bottom of the hill.
– Fred and Nellie |
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Westridge-Canyonback Park |
Westridge Fire Road |
Date: 06/10/2011 |
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We began at the
trailhead at the end of Westridge Road in Brentwood. This fire road is the
only off-leash dog trail that I know in the Santa Monica Mountains. It is completely exposed so it is best to
go early in the morning or on a June Gloom sort of day. The habitat is chaparral. There are no unusual blooms but a great
quantities of the usual ones.
Elderberry flower, California buckwheat, black sage, bush lupine,
golden yarrow, sticky monkey flower, flowering yucca, purple nightshade, deer
weed, chamise, cliff aster and heart leaf penstemon are all massed on the
banks bordering the road. There are a
few bushes of blooming bush poppy and, as you go higher, quite a lot of
farewell-to-spring. You can walk all
the way to the old Nike missile site at the top of the hill where there is a
viewing station to look out on both sides of the mountain. – Dorothy Steinicke |
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Circle X Ranch |
Grotto Trail |
Date: 06/05/2011 |
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It's getting late in
the season so I was not expecting as good a showing as this trail provided.
No doubt we can thank the recent cool weather for that. Flowering highlights
include yucca, bush monkey flower, yellow monkey flower, a spectacular wall
of creek monkey flower still dripping moisture, the first few specimens of
cliff aster, black sage, California everlasting, a couple of different
shrubby sunflowers, elderberry, elegant clarkia, chamise, heart-leaved
penstemon, morning glory, sticky madia, lance-leaved dudleya, caterpillar
phacelia, woolly blue curls, golden stars, Catalina mariposa lily, blue-eyed
grass, a few remaining wishbone bush, greenbark ceanothus, one stinging
lupine, chaparral honeysuckle, the fascinating Fish's milkwort, purple
nightshade, a beautiful example of the native cobweb thistle with its deep
crimson flowers, farewell to spring, several hummingbird sage, the native
California chicory, California wild rose, and finally, a few snowberry
flowers. All told almost sixty species in bloom; a great showing thanks
mostly to the perennials.
– ed. |
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Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve |
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Date: 06/04/2011 |
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Head North on Las
Virgenes Canyon Rd. (opposite from heading to the ocean) and drive to the end
of the road. It dead ends at the trailhead. We saw quite a few
varieties of flowers, but not very many of them. Our goal was to find
wand or moth mullein. We were successful. They were on the left
hand side of the trail about 45 minutes to an hour in. There was also a
delightful patch of white sage in bloom. Some places
were covered in sticky monkey flower adding large sections
of orange to the green and brown hills. It was very pretty.
There were abundant tadpoles in a section of the steam. We also enjoyed
peering into and going inside of the burned out trunks of a
few oaks and a sycamore tree; evidence that a large fire passed through
here at some point. The trail is wide and flat and in most
places. We went a little over an hour in and returned though one biker
said it goes all the way to Simi Valley. Flowers that we saw include:
horehound, verbena, elderberry, milk thistle, purple nightshade, elegant
clarkia, sweet yellow clover, groundsel, bull thistle, jimson weed, long
beaked filaree, black sage, deerweed, caterpillar phacelia, scarlet bugler,
yucca, a large patch of wild rose bushes, morning glory, narrow leaf
milkweed, farewell to spring, mulefat, yerba
santa, blackberry, bush mallow and cliff aster. – Fred and Nellie |
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Circle X Ranch |
Sandstone Peak / Mishe Mokwa Loop |
Date: 06/03/2011 |
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This was one of
the most spectacular flower walks I've taken this season, which is a surprise because most flowers
are usually done by June. We parked in
the Sandstone Peak Parking lot. From
the trailhead we could see flowering yucca, golden yarrow, deer weed, black
sage and chamise. Heading up the hill
we encountered cliff aster, golden star lilies, woolly blue curls, bush
lupine, sticky monkey flower, popcorn flower, farewell-to-spring, heart leaf
penstemon, Chinese houses and purple nightshade. There was rarely a stretch of trail that
wasn't bordered with banks of flowers.
Then we came upon the star of this hike, lovely yellow mariposas, we
counted 65 on the loop. We encountered someone who said that she does the
loop every week and that there had been none the week before. Continuing on past Sandstone Peak we saw
lance leaf dudleya, virgin's bower seed pods, blue dicks, purple clarkia,
blue larkspur, globe gilia, owl's clover, yellow pincushion, Turkish rugging
and wild morning glory. Another star
of the walk was the lovely white pitcher sage which we started to see on the
spur trail up to Sandstone Peak and then saw intermittently for the rest of
the loop. The meadow past Inspiration
Point which hosts shooting stars in February was filled with wild
brodiaea. Heading down to Split Rock
we saw cinquefoil. Climbing back up to
the trailhead we passed yellow monkey flower, Parry's phacelia, and a few
Catalina mariposas. The scarlet
larkspur were not out yet but looked like they would be coming soon. – Dorothy Steinicke |
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Scenic drives |
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Date: 05/31/2011 |
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Along Mulholland
Highway everything is lush and green, and there are many things in bloom, not
nearly as spectacular as previous years, but this road is certainly a
pleasant drive through the Santa Monica Mountains from Malibu Canyon all the
way to Pacific Coast Highway. Among
the large shrubs and small trees in bloom are Chamise (white spiky blossoms), Elderberry (creamy white rounded sprays of
blooms), and sage (light purple flower spikes above grey leaves).
You’ll see the tall yucca stalks topped with white flowers all over the
hillsides. Lower to the ground are the
yellowish gold spikes of deerweed bushes, the golden yellow round blooms of
yarrow and the rosy white blooms of California buckwheat. Sheets of gold on steep rocky slopes are
Sticky Monkeyflower. – Sheila
Braden |
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Rocky Oaks |
Misc. Trails |
Date: 05/31/2011 |
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Went for a
walk at Rocky Oaks (Kanan and Mulholland) on 5/31/11. I took the Pond
Trail to the Loop Trail. There is some Notable Penstemon on the pond
trail. I also saw Golden Yarrow, Sticky Monkey Flower, Blue Eyed Grass,
Purple Clarkia, California Buckwheat, Deerweed , Black Sage, Scarlet
Pimpernel, and Chaparral Yucca. Near the end of the loop trail,
there are some California Poppies blooming. – Jim Garafalo |
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Cold Creek Canyon |
Stunt High Trail |
Date: 05/30/2011 |
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From the parking on Stunt Rd. 1 mile
in from Mulholland to the next Stunt Rd. crossing. Right at the parking area
there is an overwhelming array of flowers.
Purple sage are the predominant blooms but there is also flowering
yucca, California buckwheat, greenbark ceanothus, deerweed, golden yarrow and
chamise. Heading down the trail there
were great quantities of golden stars interspersed with blue eyed grass, soap
plant lily, morning glory, purple nightshade, caterpillar phacelia and sticky
monkey flower. Once the trail runs
alongside the creek elegant clarkia becomes the predominant flower. It is mixed with canyon sunflower, wild
rose and black sage. Stream orchids
are growing right in the creek and are bigger and more prevalent than I
remember them being in previous years.
Heading up into the chaparral there is lance leaf dudleya, purple
clarkia and farewell-to-spring, there are still blue larkspur blooming as
well as vervain, slender tarweed and woolly blue curls. heart leaf penstemon,
Chinese houses and California live-forever.
At the very top, where the trail again meets Stunt Rd. there is a large patch of scarlet larkspur
mixed with large flower phacelia and cliff asters. – Dorothy Steinicke |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Lost Cabin Trail |
Date: 05/28/2011 |
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Saturday, May 28,
was day chosen by the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council (SMMTC) to perform maintenance on the Lost Cabin Trail. By
the time I had worked my way in about a mile I was convinced that the
wildflower display rated an excellent, so on the return began to record the
flowers seen. I started with yellow pincushion, yucca, chamise, deerweed,
woolly blue-curls, stone crop, turkish rugging, ca buckwheat, yellow mariposa
lily, foothill lupine, elegant clarkia, yellow star thistle, golden yarrow,
blue larkspur, blue eyed grass, vervain, golden star, Spanish clover,
Catalina mariposa lily, downy navarretia, speckled clarkia, foothill
penstemon, Indian thistle, coffee berry, and red stem filaree. The above
flowers were in considerable quantity.
Less frequent were shiny lomatium, a single white snapdragon, black
sage, ca milkweed a little off the trail,
along with a chaparral honeysuckle. Near the Mash site and along the
Crags Road to the west were collar lupine, poison hemlock, ca poppy,
plantain, curly dock, collarless poppy, elderberry, popcorn flower, scarlet
bugler. – Burt Elliot |
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Los Robles Open Space |
Los Padres Trail |
Date: 05/26/2011 |
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The Los Padres Trail
is off Moorpark Rd. Go under the freeway and turn left on Los Padres
Drive. The trailhead is almost immediately on the right.
The hike starts with a stroll through an oak glen. It is very
pretty. Then you will start a gradual up hill climb. The climb
becomes steeper going up the mountain which makes this a good exercise
hike. There is a lovely view of Conejo Valley on one side and a
peek of Hidden Valley and the expanse of the mountains on the other.
The varying shades of green in the mountains due to our recent rainfall is
picture perfect. Of course it is all downhill on the way back.
The whole hike takes about 1 1/2 hours. Flowers of note were Indian
pinks, lots of elegant clarkia, heart shaped penstemon, cliff asters, sticky
monkey flower and a few patches of mayweed. We also saw:
California everlasting, elderberry, greenbark ceanothus, canyon sunflower and
bush sunflower, California poppy, morning glory, chamise, tree tobacco, black
sage, purple nightshade, bull thistle, caterpillar phacelia, yarrow,
bedstraw, verbena and horehound. The amount of Italian thistle was a
little overwhelming. Look for the patch that is flattened where
Fred fell. We saw two beautiful California Sisters butterflies in the
oak glen. – Fred and Nellie |
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Escondido Canyon Park |
Escondido Falls Trail |
Date: 05/22/2011 |
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Escondido Canyon
is located off Winding Way Drive which is off PCH. The parking
lot is near PCH, but there is a long walk through the neighborhood to reach the
trailhead. At the end of the trail is a waterfall. It was only
running moderately today, however, the ferns, moss and algae growing on the
rocks was quite lovely. At the beginning of the trail was the
ever-prevalent black mustard and Italian thistle and also a forest of
hemlock. We also saw: tocalote, blue eyed grass, bush mallow,
hummingbird sage, canyon sunflower, black sage, sticky monkey flower, Indian
paintbrush, deerweed, wild rose, blackberry, purple sage, verbena, sweet yellow
clover, lupine, elderberry, bush sunflower, cliff aster, vetch, scarlet
pimpernel, heart shaped penstemon, hedge nettle, bedstraw and a small patch
of coastal lotus. – Fred
and Nellie |
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Rancho Sierra Vista / Point Mugu State Park |
Cabin Trail |
Date: 05/21/2011 |
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Take Wendy Drive
past Lynn road until you reach the trailhead at Potrero Road. There are
several trails in this area. The cabin trail is off the trail which
leads to the waterfall. We found an abundance of flowers and
wildlife. The air was filled with the buzzing of busy
bees. We saw many inside of flowers gathering nectar. We
also saw four types of lizards; alligator, side spot, western fence
and two huge whiptails. One was on the road and another
was hiding in a snowberry bush. We also saw a large gopher snake
slithering across the trail. It was a very rewarding hike.
We were greeted at the beginning of the trail with wild rose bushes.
There was quite a lot of Italian thistle, which has been a usual sight this
year and black mustard also. Other flowers include: wild radish,
sticky monkey flower, California everlasting, California poppy, purple
nightshade, farewell to spring, morning glory, red stemmed and bird beak
filaree, horehound, vetch, tocalote, green bark ceanothus, deerweed, black
sage, verbena, bush mallow, chamise, golden stars, microseris, fiesta flower,
Indian pinks, mountain dandelion, white and yellow yarrow, hummingbird sage,
canyon sunflower, elderberry, scarlet pimpernel, buckwheat, bush sunflower,
wishbone, caterpillar phacelia, fennel, cliff aster, bedstraw, heart leaf
penstemon, lupine, blackberry, hedge nettle, Indian paintbrush, snowberry
(it was a large bush, but only one flower) chalk dudleya and one
cudweed hiding in the deerweed. – Fred and Nellie |
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Topanga Canyon State Park |
Santa Ynez Canyon |
Date: 05/19/2011 |
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Entering on the
Palisades side, trailhead at the end of Vereda de
la Montura St. which branches off of Palisades
Drive. This is one of my
favorite hikes. The creekside area is always green and shady. Be aware that a lot of the green is poison
oak, long pants and long sleeves are a good idea. This canyon is a
gem in the summer time. It gets a lot
of summer flowers after the hillsides have dried up. It is not quite there yet but there is
still a lot of water in the creek and a lot of flowers in bloom. Upon entering the trail flowering black
sage, canyon sunflower and hedge nettle were immediately visible. As I walked along I saw blackberry flowers,
purple nightshade, sticky monkey flower, wild rose, deer weed, bush lupine,
honeysuckle, lance leaf dudleya, sweet pea and wild morning glory in
bloom. The cream bush, which is one of
the special flowers on this hike, is just getting started. I really went on this trail to look at the
chaparral portion that heads of the mountain to Trippett
Ranch. May often has spectacular
flowers in this section. Not this
time. There are flowers worth going to
see, but not the abundance that is often there. There are the usual chaparral flowers;
yucca, golden yarrow, yellow pin cushion, chamise, Turkish rugging,
California buckwheat and owl's clover.
There are only a few specimens of the more exciting flowers that often
occur here; white snapdragon, scarlet larkspur, golden star lilies and globe
gilia. The scarlet larkspur looked as
though it had been browsed by deer.
There were a lot of butterflies; checkerspots,
California sisters, mourning cloaks, swallowtails and a lot of little
blues. – Dorothy Steinicke |
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Paramount Ranch |
Trail behind the Train Depot |
Date: 05/19/2011 |
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I often don't
think of Paramount Ranch as a good hiking spot for sighting flowers, but
this trail had quite an abundance of flowers. It would be a great trail
to take a family with younger children as the trail is short (about an
hour) and the western town is fun and there are bathrooms. Go
through the western town to the train depot. The trail is to the right
and goes up a small hill. Yarrow lined almost the entire trail with
sprinklings of elegant clarkia and woolly blue curls. The yellow and
purple combination was quite appealing. Other notable plants include:
golden current in berry, abundant black mustard, tocalote, red stemmed
filaree, Italian thistle and milk thistle, mint leaf verbena, a very large
horehound bush, caterpillar phacelia, perezia, purple clarkia, elderberry,
chamise, buckwheat, a nice large patch of foothill penstemon, quite a few
yuccas up the hillside, owl's clover, slender sunflower, purple nightshade,
purple sage, golden stars, mountain dandelion, spring vetch, pineapple plant,
and fiddleneck. There is a short trail off to the left of the main
trail which leads to a secluded picnic bench. We also saw a baby
rattlesnake slithering across the road and a horned lizard hiding in a
bush.– Fred and Nellie |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Cistern Trial |
Date: 05/18/2011 |
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There are some nice
blooms on the Cistern trail in Malibu Creek State Park. The trailhead
is located about 1.6 miles west of Las Virgenes Road on Mulholland Highway,
on the south side of the street. The trail is not signed, but there is
a "no bikes" sign at the trailhead. There is a colony of
Matilija Poppies near the beginning of the trail. I also saw California
Buckwheat, Golden Yarrow, Black and Purple Sage, Deerweed. Purple
Nightshade, Canyon Sunflower, Sticky Monkeyflower, Woolly Bluecurls, Indian
Paintbrush, Scarlet Pimpernel, and Vervain. Continuing west on
the canyon bottom and turning right on the Cage Creek trail there are some
annuals blooming; Elegant Clarkia, Caterpillar Phacelia, and at the junction
of the Cage Creek trail and the Lookout Trail there is some Specked Clarkia.
Further on up the Lookout Trail there is White Popcorn Flower and
Goldenstar. The hike that I am describing is a 2 and 1/2 mile loop:
Take the Cistern Trail down to the canyon bottom and turn right,
right on the Cage Creek trail, and right on the Lookout Trail which
takes you back to the Cistern Trail.
– Jim Garafalo |
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Castro Crest |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 05/15/2011 |
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The section of the
Backbone trail from Kanan Rd to Latigo Cyn is showing some really nice blooms
right now. This part of the trail heads east , over tunnel #1 on Kanan
Rd. Among the flowers that you will see are Sticky Monkey Flower,
Indian Paintbrush, Golden Yarrow, Fiesta Flower, Mariposa Lily, a
couple of different kinds of Phacelia, Black Sage, Purple Sage, Pitcher Sage,
Wooly Blue Curls, Elegant Clarkia, Canyon Sunflower, and Bush Lupine.
If you cross the road when you get to Latigo Canyon road and continue east on
the backbone trail for a little ways, there are even more nice blooms,
including some Indian Pinks. This trail has some of the best wildflower
displays that I have seen this season in the Santa Monica’s. – Jim Garafalo |
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Red Rock Canyon Park |
Red Rock Fire Road |
Date: 05/15/2011 |
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The park is at the
very end of Red Rock Canyon Rd. which intersects Old Topanga Rd. Be careful on Red Rock Canyon Rd. There are many blind curves and several
places where it is essentially only one lane wide. This was one of
the nicest and most flower filled walks I've been on it a while. The trail is a fire road that heads uphill
out of the parking area. On your right
is a still running stream. On your
left towering rock walls pocked with many worn away holes. There are masses of blooming flowers
clustered together. There is golden
yarrow, elegant clarkia, blue dick, chamise, elder flower, wild roses, banks
of Chinese houses, purple nightshade, virgin's bower in seed pods, canyon sunflower,
sticky monkey flower, holly leaf cherry, California chicory, lance leaf
dudleya, Indian pinks and lots of blue larkspur and farewell-to-spring. The green hillsides above the creek are
speckled with flowering yucca.
Continuing uphill you leave the rock formations behind and find
yourself inside a giant green bowl.
There are still a lot of flowers along the road including black sage,
wild morning glory, deer weed, bush lupine, California everlasting, Indian
paintbrush, California buckwheat purple sage and a few mariposas. There is one stand of surprisingly large
hummingbird sage plants in bloom.
Surprisingly there are prickly phlox and greenbark ceanothus still in
bloom. The road comes to a T the left,
downhill direction will take you to Stunt Rd.
The right continues uphill.
That is the way I went. This
stretch is much more exposed and had fewer flowers but there were still some
rewarding surprises. There was bush
sunflower, yellow monkey flower, woolly blue curls, mustard evening primrose,
popcorn flower, cliff aster and white snapdragon. In one sheltered patch just off the trail
there was a large clump of notable penstemon.
– Dorothy Steinicke |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Crags Road |
Date: 05/15/2011 |
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It was a beautiful
day in Malibu Creek with blue skies and puffy white clouds and a
wonderful day for a hike. However, there were not too many
flowers. We walked from the lower parking lot to the rock pool and then
back to Crags Road past the MASH site to the Malibu Lake
community. The flowers we saw were: black mustard, spring
vetch, storkbeak filaree, Italian thistle,
poison hemlock, yarrow, purple sage, bedstraw, deerweed, bush mallow, sticky
monkey flower, red stem filaree, popcorn flower, caterpillar phacelia,
elderberry, foothill penstemon, farewell to spring, elegant clarkia, some
large wild rose bushes and one brilliant deep red
colored purple clarkia on the right hand side of the road past the
MASH site.– Fred and Nellie |
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Triunfo Canyon Park |
Pentachaeta Trail |
Date: 05/10/2011 |
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The Pentachaeta
Trail is located at the end of Triunfo Canyon Road at Lindero Canyon
Road. The trail was delightfully blooming with flowers. There was
a few large patches of Pentachaeta fairly close to the trailhead. We
also saw elderberry, California poppy, elegant clarkia, yarrow, foothill
penstemon, mulefat, hollyleaf redberry, black
mustard, curly dock, California everlasting, chamise, Italian thistle, purple
nightshade, gooseberry fuschia, milk thistle, sweet yellow clover, pineapple
plant, blue eyed grass, yucca, blue dicks, purple sage, woolly blue curls,
and lupine. We went up a small trail to the right and saw creek monkey
flower and globe lily. The trail went into a dry creek and was so
overgrown we went back onto the main trail, but were glad for the detour to
see both of these flowers. Back on the mail trail we saw black sage,
mint leaf verbena, scarlet pimpernel, sticky monkey flower, golden stars
(just a couple of almost dead ones). Then we happened upon a gopher
snake in the middle of the trail. It looked at us for a few minutes and
then slithered back into the grass. Continuing on we saw deerweed,
caterpillar phacelia, English plantain, and sugarbush.
We ventured up another small trail and encountered miner's lettuce, virgin's
bower and some honeysuckle growing on a scrub oak tree. It was a great
hike!. – Fred and Nellie |
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Circle X Ranch |
Grotto Trail |
Date: 05/02/2011 |
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There is still a
lot of water in the creek and newts cavorting which makes this hike
especially nice. There is black sage,
canyon sunflower, blue dicks, blooming sugar bush, sticky monkey flower and
purple nightshade. Past the second creek
crossing there is a rock wall with water seeping down it. It is completely covered in masses of creek
monkey flowers with a gathering of Chinese houses, Santa Monica Mountain
dudleya and willow herb clarkia below it.
Really lovely. The trail up to the
meadow has popcorn flower, deer weed, caterpillar phacelia, wild morning
glory, California chicory and woolly blue curls. The meadow is carpeted with Catalina
mariposa lilies and spring vetch.
Continuing down through the chaparral there are star lilies, flowering
yucca, golden yarrow, chamise, hedge nettle, blue eyed grass and hummingbird
sage. Look for more newts in the creek
below. – Dorothy Steinicke |
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Circle X Ranch |
Canyon View Trail |
Date: 05/02/2011 |
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This trail does
not have the lovely accompaniment of a nearby stream, but as the name
suggests, there are wonderful views.
The beginning of the trail (branching off from the Grotto Trail) is
nearly carpeted with yellow monkey flowers.
There are twining snapdragons, black sage, California buckwheat,
chamise, blooming yucca, wild morning glory, blue dicks as well as purple
clarkia, elegant clarkia, globe gilia caterpillar phacelia and gorgeous
Perry’s phacelia. There are some
collarless poppies and blooming sugar bush as well as star lilies and
butterfly mariposas. We walked as far
as the creek filled with step pools and lined with blooming red skinned
onions, creek monkey flower and speedwell.
A lovely spot.
– Dorothy Steinicke |
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Los Robles East |
Oak Creek Cyn Loop |
Date: 05/02/2011 |
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This is a nice
trail because it is close to Thousand Oaks and easy to access. It is a
good trail to hike when you don't have much time, but want some variety and a
little bit of a workout. Take Moorpark Rd. to where it dead ends at the
mountains. Turn right on Green meadow and follow to the trail
head. The trail starts in an oak grove. When you leave the grove
you'll be in a coastal sage scrub area. The Los Robles east trail
leads up to a hilltop that offers magnificent views of the Conejo
Valley. Chamise and black sage were in abundance. Some other
flowers that we saw include: purple nightshade, horehound, Italian
thistle, black mustard, annual bedstraw, rock rose (right near the parking
lot) white nightshade (near the trailhead), elderberry, pearly everlasting,
gooseberry fuschia, sugar bush, canyon sunflower, popcorn flower, sticky
monkey flower, cobweb thistle (up a small trail to the right), prickly phlox,
deerweed, goosefoot, yarrow, verbena, mariposa lily, sweet yellow clover,
scarlet pimpernel, fiddleneck, tree tobacco, greenbark ceanothus, morning
glory, bush sunflower, stork's beak, and one blue dick. Other notable
sightings include: a prickly pear with fruit, five wild cucumber seed
pods hanging in a row on a tree branch looking like Christmas ornaments and a
yucca in bud. All in all it was a great hike considering it was a quick
get away after work. – Fred
and Nellie |
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Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area 401 West
Hillcrest Drive 805-370-2301 |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report you can e-mail the
editor at: or phone
Tony at 310-457-6408 |
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What’s Blooming on the web at www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom or go to www.nps.gov/samo and click on “What’s Blooming”
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