Natural History Wanderings

Theodore Payne has posted a new southern and central California wildflower bloom update for  April 20, 2012.

Some of the highlights are:

• Palos Verdes at South Coast Botanic Garden. . Most California natives are in the Mediterranean Garden section. Look for our favorite spring wildflowers, California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), clarkia (Clarkia unguiculata), Canterbury bells (Phacelia campanularia), arroyo lupine (Lupinus succulentus), bird’s eye gilia (Gilia tricolor), Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla) and five-spot (Nemophila maculata). Many colorful, bright perennials,
• Newport Beach walking the trails at the Environmental Nature Center. A visit here on a beautiful spring day is invigorating. California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) are bright and cheery everywhere in the garden.
• Prisk Native Garden located in Long Beach garden is in full bloom
• Habitat Gardens at Elizabeth Learning Center in Cudahy are “out-of-control beautiful”
• Inland Empire and the San Jacinto Mountains, you will find many of the chaparral shrub species in flower along the Webster Trail
• The areas east of Lake Henshaw  still look good this week, however the nice displays  of goldfields (Lasthenia gracilis) are fading fast. Around the junction of S2 and S22 where the PCT crosses S22, there are both white and blue ceanothus (Ceanothus spp.) in full bloom and the slopes look spectacular.
• The bush lupine (Lupinus excubitus) at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, is very showy now
• A very nice hike in the Cleveland National Forest along the San Juan Loop Trail, will yield you glimpses of at least 138 species of plants! The showiest include ropevine (Clematis pauciflora) scrambling up into shrubs and trees, chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla), Parry’s blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia parryi) ) and woodland star (Lithophragma affine), occupying little shady patches.
• Still in the Santa Ana Mountains, a walk in the remote Pine Canyon, a tributary of Silverado Canyon reveals nice displays of climbing snapdragon (Antirrhinum kelloggii), paintbrush (Castilleja affinis), chaparral yucca (Hesperoyucca whipplei), and long-leaved lupine (Lupinus longifolius) Lastly, but best, is an unusually large patch of at least 50 rein orchids (Piperia sp.).
• Along the foothills of the Southern Sierra Nevada from Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, Western redbud (Cercis occidentalis) is spectacular with it’s reddish-pink blossoms and the blue of lupines, the silver bush lupine (Lupinus albifrons) and spider lupine (Lupinus benthamii). Standing out too are showy yellow of patches of madia (Madia elegans).
• At Pinnacles National Monument on the High Peaks trail, enjoy the gold and red colors of goldfields (Lasthenia gracilis), wallflowers (Erysimum capitatum), and paintbrush (Castilleja affinis var. affinis).