Natural History Wanderings

Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area just published a new wildflower report for 6/15/11.  They have new postings for the Peter Strauss Ranch and Upper Virgenes Canyon .  Below is the report:

Peter Strauss Ranch     Date: 06/12/2011

“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 penstemons, 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

Westridge Fire Road     Date: 06/10/2011

“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

Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve     Date: 06/04/2011

    “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

Go to their website to see all of their reports:  http://www.researchlearningcenter.org/bloom/