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Page Revised: 07/09/2011 |
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Available Site Reviews Topanga Canyon State Park Circle X Ranch Malibu Creek State Park Newton Canyon Rocky Oaks Peter Strauss Ranch Westridge-Canyonback Park Upper Las Virgenes Canyon |
Date of Review 07/08 & 06/28. 06/29 & 06/25 &
06/17 & 06/05 & 06/03. 06/28. 06/25. 06/21. 06/12. 06/10. 06/04. |
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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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Much of the hiking I've done recently
indicates that flower season is nearly over and summer is here. Granted, most
of my recent hiking has been in some of the drier parts of the range but
still the indications of the change of the season are here. There will still
be some very nice flower species blooming for a while yet, like the
Plummer’s mariposa lily and the scarlet larkspur, but the diversity of
Spring is passing. For sure, flowers can be found throughout the summer and
my camera is busy year round, but mostly gone is the best Southern California
has to offer. Where before any old trail was bound to please from now on
finding flowers will be a matter of the craftiness of the flower hunter. Look
for sheltered sites with shade or water or near the coast. These places can
offer flowers year-round and additionally may reward us with some of the
rarest finds. Alternatively, consider re-defining
your expectations of what defines a flower. Many of our true summer flowers
are small and obscure or have a scraggly habit and not perhaps what the
typical person would use in their flower arrangements (this value judgment is
clear when we note many of them have the word “weed” in their
names.) Now is the beginning of the season of the true flower enthusiast. 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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Topanga State Park |
Trailer Canyon Trail |
Date: 07/08/2011 |
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Today we hiked up
the Trailer Canyon Trail from Pacific Palisades to the Backbone Trail and
back, about 4.5 miles each way. Even though we have been having hot weather
the flora is still quite green, with some surprises. While the Laurel sumac,
California buckwheat and Toyon dominate in quantities, Elderberry flower and
fruit are plentiful. There is leftover Monkey flower, Deerweed, Golden
yarrow, Purple nightshade, Filaree, Black sage, Caterpillar phacelia, and
Heart leaved penstemon. Starting up the trail we saw Vervain, Chaparral
honeysuckle, and Sunflower, giving way to Cliff Aster, Narrow leaved
milkweed, Bush lupine, Two-tone everlasting. Of course there was plenty
Yellow star thistle, Black mustard, Tree tobacco, Sweet fennel, and a few
Bristly ox-tongue. I was surprised to see what appears to be re-blooming
Greenbark ceanothus and Chamise. There are a few Hollyleaf redberry that are
easy to identify with the berries. The expected Felt-leaf everlasting and
Slender tarweed were represented. Not having hiked this trail before, I was
surprised to see more than a few Braunton’s milkvetch in the final
stages of blooming. When I referred to my iPhone app for SM Wildflowers, I
see that the pictures posted for this plant were taken on Temescal Ridge
Trail just above the trail that we are hiking. Rating: very good. – Burt Elliott |
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Wildwood Park |
Paradise Falls Trail |
Date: 07/05/2011 |
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We parked in the
parking lot on Arboles across from Wildflower
playfields, then went across the lawn behind the bathrooms to the trail
entrance. This is where the fort used to be. We took this trail along the
creek following the signs to Paradise Falls. After looking at the falls we
continued on the trail, passed through the campground towards Lizard Rock and
returned the same way we came following the creek. The highlight of the hike
was viewing Paradise Falls. It is running vigorously and I feel sometimes I
forget how lovely it is because it is so accessible. For the best view go to
the base of the falls and carefully walk across the pond to the cliffs on the
other side using the well placed rocks and branches. Many of the rocks have
moss and are slippery so it is easy to slip in the water. The cliffs on the
other side of the creek have an abundance of Conejo buckwheat in bloom
growing out of them. I believe Wildwood is one of the few areas with
considerable patches of Conejo buckwheat so seeing them in all over the
cliffs was worth the hike. There were not many other flowers blooming in
abundance. Summer has definitely arrived. That said, we still did see a large
variety of flowers, just not in their peak. There was yerba mansa by the
creek and California fuschia near the falls. We also saw perezia. false
indigo in seed, a lot of California buckwheat and chalk dudleya, white and
yellow clover, sticky monkey flower, wild celery, mule fat, bladderpod
(unusual this far from the ocean) heart-leaf penstemon, toyon, purple sage
(mostly dried up but a few blooms) lemonade berry in berry, honeysuckle,
watercress near the stream, yarrow, tarweed, canyon sunflower, cliff aster,
California everlasting, lance-leaf dudleya, hemlock, morning glory, snowberry
in berry, and water plantain. As the days have been hot we went in the
evening and found the temperature very conducive for hiking. – Fred and Nellie |
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Circle X Ranch |
Mishe Mokwa Trail |
Date: 06/29/2011 |
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We did just a
quick hike down toward split rock near sunset. The evening was cool and the
light lovely but in the end we had to turn back before we got there because
it was getting too dark. I made a flower list but is was very brief because
so many things have dried up in the last few weeks. The best of the lot was
plentiful scarlet larkspur and Plumber's mariposa lily, both still
approaching their peak. The other things I made particular note of was the
appearance of the tarweeds and the dropping of the leaves on the salvias --
both signs that spring is over and summer is here, at least on this trail.
Still looking good was woolly blue curls, heart-leaved penstemon, white
pitcher sage, bird's beak, both caulk and lance-leaved dudleya, bush mallow and
california buckwheat. Additional highlights were scarce and most of the
remaining things I will mention here are on the way out or even essentially
done. They include black sage, yucca, sapphire wool stars, golden yarrow,
small-flowered dwarf-flax, Turkish rugging, deerweed, yellow monkey flower,
chamise, sticky madia (another tarweed), one golden stars, and several sticky
monkey flower shrubs with only a few sad flowers showing on a bush that had
hundreds of dried up blossoms. The mariposa lily and scarlet larkspur on
their own keep the rating of this trail "good." – ed. |
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Topanga State Park: Trippet Ranch |
Santa Ynez trail to waterfall |
Date: 06/28/2011 |
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Our goal for this
hike was to visit the Santa Ynez Waterfall. We hadn't been here for a few
years. Several people we talked to along the trail told us it was dried up
and no longer existed. Fortunately, they were wrong. Surprisingly we saw
quite a few flowers for this time of year and there was a lot of variety
also. The hike started as a ridge trail and this portion of the hike had the
most flowers. There were large bushes of lupine and heart-leaf penstemon.
There was also quite a few Plummer’s mariposa lilies and a large
smattering of crimson larkspur. Other flowers in bloom on the upper trail
included: sticky monkey flower, pitcher sage, scarlet pimpernel, tarweed,
deerweed, buckwheat, filaree, California everlasting, bush mallow, verbena,
elderberry, cliff aster, morning glory, black sage, red berry in berry, bush
sunflower, honeysuckle, yucca, narrow-leaf milkweed, bull thistle, toyon,
yarrow, laurel sumac, chamise, wooly blue curls, narrow-leaf dudleya, twiggy
wreath plant, bedstraw, woolly blue sapphire, cudweed aster, and chalk
dudleya. The trail then
descends into the Santa Ynez Canyon. It was cool and pleasant with a lot of
foliage, but not as many flowers. We saw: wild rose, blackberries in berry
(tasty) canyon sunflower, and holly-leaf red berry. As I mentioned earlier
our goal was to go to the waterfall. After about 15 or twenty minutes in the
canyon you will come to a post that says "waterfall" with an arrow
pointing to a trail. Take that trail. A sign states that the trail in not
maintained. However, it is pretty easy to navigate. You will cross the creek
several times and will sometimes have to walk in the creek bed to find the
trail start up again. One crossing leads to a false trail, so be sure the
trail is going parallel to the creek. There is a lot of poison oak. We saw
quite a bit of Spanish broom, some more pitcher sage, a few Indian pinks, and
several Humboldt lilies on the way to the waterfall. You will come to a point
where the trail stops. Getting to the waterfall requires boulder climbing and
wading through the creek. Your shoes will probably get wet. When we arrived
at the waterfall, which fell into a small pond and grotto and was quite
beautiful, we were delighted with the scarlet monkey flowers growing out of
the fern covered rocks. As a side note, near the post that says,
"waterfall" there are two chimneys from a homesteaders house hiding
in the brush. Have fun!.
– Fred and Nellie |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 06/28/2011 |
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The Backbone trail
crosses Piuma Road about 1.2 miles east of the junction of Piuma Road and Las
Virgenes. There is a small area to
park on the right. I crossed the street and took the east bound trail, up a
small hill, then down to the stream, then going up the mountain.
Despite it being so late in the season, there are still flowers to see
on this trail. There is much Bush
Mallow blooming right now and there are some beautiful Plummer's Mariposa
Lily still blooming at various points along the trail. At the beginning
of the trail there is some California Fuchsia and some Scarlet Larkspur. Other flowers that I saw blooming were
California Buckwheat, Cliff Aster, Slender Tarweed, Bush Sunflower, Sticky
Monkeyflower, White Morning Glory, Black Sage, Deerweed, and Golden Yarrow.
Near the top of the trail (two miles up) there is a spot where a good
number of Indian Pinks are blooming. A
little past here, there are some Chaparral Yucca in bloom. – Jim Garafalo |
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Newton Canyon Trailhead |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 06/25/2011 |
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The trail starts
on Kanan Road. Most of the flowers that we saw were on the Backbone
trail. There were quite a few flowers and a good variety. We didn't
get started until 5:00, but as it doesn't get dark until 8:00 this wasn't a
problem. The Backbone trail is wide and easy to hike. We also
descended down into the canyon and visited 3 waterfalls. To view
the first waterfall, take the first trail to the left that deviates from the
main trail. It is fairly wide and easy to follow. Whenever there is a
fork in the road go to the left. There was quite a lot of water falling
and a good sized pond under it, but we were most delighted by the large
Humboldt lily that greeted us at the base of the falls. It had about 10
blooms. Retrace your steps up to the main trail. A little further
down you'll find a more obscure trail. This trail is overgrown and very
steep. You will have to use both of your hands to navigate down and to
get back up. This trail is only for hearty hikers. When you reach
the bottom of the trail you will be walking along the streambed.
Unless you are pretty good at stone jumping and
horizontal rock climbing, your shoes may get wet. If you turn
right and walk upstream you will find Zuma Falls. There are many
interesting rock formations surrounding the falls. Spectacular really.
The water in the ponds was delightfully clean. Retrace your steps,
go a little further downstream and turn left at the next canyon.
You will come to Newton Falls. This is more of a moss and fern covered
area with water dribbling over it. Quite picturesque. Retrace
your steps and go back up the very steep trail. Someone had put a black
garage sack on a stick which was helpful in finding the trail up. The
flowers that we saw in canyons were: purple nightshade, chalk dudleya,
lots of creek monkey flower, wild rose, yarrow, snowberry, feverfew, and wild
celery. When we reached the Backbone trail again we hiked a quite a bit
further down and then turned around and came back. As I mentioned
earlier, while the canyons were lush with foliage. most of the flowers
we saw were on the Backbone trail. Those flowers included: a lot
of Spanish broom, California everlasting, an abundance of sticky monkey
flower, heart-leafed penstemon, narrow-leaf dudleya, hedge nettle, coast
figwort, elegant clarkia, canyon sunflower, chamise, caterpillar phacelia,
black sage, slender sunflower, cliff aster, deerweed, sweet yellow clover, several
areas with bush mallow, yucca, California buckwheat, verbena,
mugwort, purple clarkia, bush lupine, fennel, tree tobacco, greenbark
ceanothus, popcorn flower, crimson larkspur and two perfect Parry's
phacelia. It was delightful.
– Fred and Nellie |
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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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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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