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Page Revised: 06/24/2011 |
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Available Site Reviews Circle X Ranch Rocky Oaks Peter Strauss Ranch Westridge-Canyonback Park Upper Las Virgenes Canyon 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 |
Date of Review 06/25 & 06/17 &
06/05 & 06/03. 06/21 & 05/31. 06/12. 06/10. 06/04. 05/30. 05/28 & 05/18 &
05/15. 05/26. 05/22. 05/21. 05/21. 05/19. 05/19. 05/15. 05/15. |
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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 |
Canyon View Trail |
Date: 06/24/2011 |
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Things have
definitely begun to dry out now, although this trail, with its south aspect,
dries out early anyway. It is one of the first to start flowering nicely in
the spring and one of the first to enter summer. Except for some scattered
holdouts most of the flowers in this list tell us summer is just around the corner.
In addition most of the flower reported here were present in only modest
numbers, much less than just a few weeks ago. Highlights include elegant
clarkia, a few greenbark ceanothus, several Plummer’s mariposa lily,
perezia, slender tarweed, bird’s beak, annual paintbrush, bush monkey
flower, creek monkey flower, Spanish clover Turkish rugging, black sage,
golden yarrow, morning glory, California wild rose, heart-leaved penstemon,
California buckwheat, both chalk and lance-leaved dudleyas, several nice
stands of scarlet larkspur, chamise, yucca, bush mallow, woolly blue curls,
laurel sumac, California chicory, and deerweed. All told about 35 species in
bloom. Except for the larkspur and the lilies not too much to brag about. – ed. |
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Rocky Oaks |
Misc. Trails |
Date: 06/21/2011 |
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We started at the
parking lot, hiked over to the pond and stopped to watch the coots and their
chicks forage in the tule. From there we went north and picked up the Rock
Oaks Loop Trail, which was in very good condition as it was just recently
groomed. After circling around and returning to the pond we decided to loop
around again, this time on the Glade Trail before returning to the parking
lot. Rocky Oaks has a pretty heavy burden of non-native weeds but still can
provide a decent showing of wildflowers in some areas. Flowering highlights
included golden yarrow, California buckwheat, black sage, deerweed, several
nice stands of hillside penstemon, yucca, loosestrife, purple nightshade,
slender tarweed, Turkish rugging, a few hoary-leaved ceanothus, bush mallow,
woolly blue curls, golden stars, a few scarlet larkspur (with more to come,)
California everlasting, Spanish clover, chicory, water smartweed, the
attractive native cobweb thistle, bird’s beak, purple clarkia, a few
blue-eyed grass, slender sunflower, and a couple of chamise holding onto
their last blossoms. All told about 45 species in bloom. Without the pond
I’d probably not visit this site very often. – 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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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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