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Page Revised: 10/7/05 |
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Available Sites Topanga State Park |
Date of Review 10/5/05. |
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What's Blooming photo
gallery: www.nps.gov/samo/bloom/bloom.htm |
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Topanga State Park |
Santa Ynez Canyon Trail |
Date: 10/5/05 |
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This is a wonderful hike. It is cool here on even the hottest
days. There is still a lot of water in
the creek, a testament to our record breaking rain year. I went without much expectation of flowers,
and so, was pleasantly surprised.
There is more California fuchsia than anything else. Little patches of cudweed aster and cliff
aster and California buckwheat. I was
surprised to find several patches of Indian pinks, by the book they should
have finished months ago. There are
several scarlet monkey flowers blooming in the creek and I saw a single wild
rose. There were many places where
deer have rubbed their antlers, many California sister butterflies and lots
of tadpoles and froglets in the creek. Not the spectacular flowers of spring but a
wonderful place to be outdoors on a hot day. (DS) |
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Naturalist's rating: Fair |
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Circle X Ranch |
All Trails |
Date: 9/10/05 |
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Most of the trails at CXR pass
principally through dry sage scrub or chaparral, with only brief descents
into the moister riparian areas. Now in the depth of summer these dry
sections have very few flowers, mostly small summer species like twiggy
wreath plant, California sagebrush, sawtooth goldenbush and woolly aster,
with scattered leftovers from earlier in the year like slender tarweed and
California buckwheat. For example, a hike up to Sandstone peak failed to net
even ten different flower species, although it did yield the relatively
interesting Tejon milk aster and bush senecio. The riparian areas contain a larger
(although still small) variety of flowers such as scarlet monkey flower,
creek monkey flower, mugwort, California fuchsia, Fish’s milkwort,
annual paintbrush, California loosestrife, willow-herb, white hedge nettle,
leather root, cattail, a small unidentified Centaurium, and again, scattered leftovers from earlier in the year. Other
highlights scattered about include narrow-leaved milkweed, chalk
live-forever, wand buckwheat, telegraph weed, bleeding heart, Spanish clover,
field willow-herb, cliff aster, and dodder. The roadsides often offer the
greatest variety of flowers, but these tend to be “weedy” alien
species found along roadsides everywhere. It is worth noting that the Grotto
trail, the Mishe Mokwa trail, and the Canyon View trail all still have some
water flowing in their respective riparian areas. Tadpoles, both frog and
newt, still exist in quantity near the Grotto. Compared to earlier in the year when
many of these same trails produced excellent displays of wildflowers I find
myself bestowing a rating of fair at best, with many sections of the trails
downright poor (strictly from a flower point of view). Interestingly enough,
for a confirmed flower watcher like myself this
allows me the freedom to enjoy other aspects of the area’s beautiful
trails that I sometimes miss during the height of the flower season. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor to Fair |
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Point Mugu State Park |
Sycamore Canyon Trail
& Serrano Canyon Trail |
Date: 9/9/05 |
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On 9/9/05 I hiked along the Sycamore
Canyon Trail and then up the Serrano Canyon Trail to the grasslands and returned.
This is about a five mile hike with a 400 feet elevation change. I was
surprised to find over 50 species blooming and a fair amount of water flowing
in the creek down Serrano Canyon, providing the pleasant background babbling
of the brook. Starting out from the trailhead just off the PCH, I was
immediately confronted by the large number of what some might call a
catalogue of "noxious" plants. Included in these might be Western
ragweed, sweet fennel, tree tobacco, hedge mustard, horseweed, castor bean,
prickly lettuce, poison hemlock, datura, cockle bur, telegraph weed and
morning glory. Also found amongst this first group was mule fat, coyote bush,
vervain, mugwort, wild rose, ashy leaved buckwheat, bush monkey flower, giant
rye and cliff aster. Still blooming was bush mallow, laurel sumac, horehound,
deerweed, wooly aster, elderberry, Harding grass, white sweet clover and
cudweed. The bright red of both California fuchsia and hoary fuchsia and
heart-leaved penstemon were spotted all along the trail. Sow thistle and wild
heliotrope were spotted as well as narrow-leaved milkweed. Sawtooth golden
bush was fairly plentiful and a few slender tarweed and California sage brush
were also seen. Adding to the list was wand chicory, felt-leaf everlasting
and chalk live-forever. The poison oak was displaying a wide range of reds,
pinks and almost violet colored leaves. Several coffeeberry bushes were
bearing fruit and the walnuts were thick underfoot beneath the trees The
trail up Serrano Canyon crosses the creek many times giving an opportunity to
see the tadpoles and at nearly every crossing the scarlet monkey flower. In
these moist areas there was common plantain and more roses accompanied by
their brilliant red rose hips. Climbing up toward the grassland I spotted
California buckwheat, woolly blue curls, black sage, chamise, gum plant,
rabbit's foot grass and a single Spanish broom. For this time of year seeing this
many different species even in modest quantities is good and such a rating is
given. (RWM) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Rancho Sierra Vista |
Miscellaneous Trails |
Date: 9/6/05 |
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About 30 species encountered, but
none in profusion and many could be considered “weedy.” Highlights
include Woolly Aster, Telegraph Weed, Slender Tarweed, Gum Plant, Twiggy
Wreath Plant, Field Willow Herb, Turkey Mullein, Vinegar Weed, California
Buckwheat, Wand Buckwheat, Scarlet Gaura, Mugwort, California Fuchsia,
California Wild Rose, Common Vervain, Bristly Ox-tongue and even a California
Poppy along one of the drainages.
(TV). |
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Naturalist's rating: Fair |
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Charmlee Park & Arroyo Sequit |
Loop Trails |
Date: 9/1/05 |
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On 9/01/05 we hiked the loop trails
at Charmlee Park and the nearby Arroyo Sequit. We were hoping to spot some
California goldenrod seen here several years ago. We were rewarded with
sighting one such plant right at the parking lot of Charmlee Park. We got an
additional bonus at Sequit later when we found a number of western goldenrod
as well. At Charmlee we recorded 31 species in flower and at Arroyo Sequit
another 19 for a total of 50 different species in bloom. For this time of
year this is considered good and such a rating is given. Taking the loop
trail in a counter clockwise direction we first encountered, surprise, Santa
Susanna tarweed, horseweed, narrow-leaf tarweed, wooly aster and bird's beak.
A splash of red was provided by California fuchsia. Hedge mustard was present
as was bush mallow, turkey mullein, giant rye, prickly lettuce, scarlet
pimpernel and little horseweed. Baccarus, bush
monkey flower, wand chicory (twiggy wreath plant as some prefer), and a late
deerweed. A small white flower was seen and later identified as sand spurry.
Sawtooth golden bush was plentiful as was ashy leaf buckwheat. Black sage,
cliff-aster, bush lupine, laurel sumac sweet fennel, morning glory,
narrow-leaved milkweed, tree tobacco, telegraph weed and chamise concluded
sightings at Charmlee. At Arroyo Sequit we spotted wild
rose, mugwort, Indian pink, western lettuce, and slender sunflower as we
started out the trail. Spearmint, western ragweed, Spanish clover and a few
Calif thread torch were seen. The western goldenrod was then seen accompanied
by vervain, gum plant and artichoke. Felt-leaf everlasting, chalk
live-forever, datura and horehound were also present. Between the little
house on the property and the parking lot a magnificent century plant has sent
up a 25 feet tall stalk loaded with flowers.
(RWM). |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Santa
Monica Mountains National Recreation Area 401 West
Hillcrest Drive Ph.
805-370-2301 web. www.nps.gov/samo |
Thank
you for your
contributions: Burt
Elliot |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report: e-mail: or phone
Tony at 310-457-6408 |
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