Theodore Payne has a new wildflower report this morning. Here are some highlights from areas not recently mentioned on Natural History Wanderings. You can find the full report with photos and older reports at: Wildflower Hotline.
Let’s start with our first report from the Southern Sierras near Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks. Along the Generals Highway in Sequoia National Park, Western redbud (Cercis occidentalis) is spectacular with it’s reddish-pink blossoms providing a stunning show of color. Bright patches of fiddleneck (Amsinckia menziesii) California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) and common madia (Madia elegans) light up the road sides along Highway 198 through Three Rivers into the national parks. The blue spider lupine (Lupinus benthamii) and subtle pink Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla) add a nice color contrast to the yellow/orange palette of the other blossoms. This is a beautiful stretch of highway into our uniquely beautiful national parks in California’s Sierras Nevada Mountains.
Hike with family and friends in the Verdugo Mountains at Stough Canyon Nature Center and enjoy the colorful and fragrant, black sage (Salvia mellifera), bush sunflower (Encelia californica), succulent lupine (Lupinus succulentus), golden currant (Ribes aureum) and caterpillar phacelia (Phacelia cicutaria). The trails here provide an easy outing for families “on the move.”
The bulbs and annual wildflowers are making showy displays in beds and along pathways at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada-Flintridge. Birds-eye gilia (Gilia tricolor), California bulebells (Phacelia campanularia), Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla), and lace-leaved phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) are some of the prettiest annuals decorating the grounds. The hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea), coral bells (Heuchera spp.), lilac verbena (Verbena lilacena) and desert mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), along with the bright yellow bush sunflower (Encelia californica) are quite colorful as well.
Prisk Native Garden in Long Beach (on the grounds of Prisk School) is having its annual Open House Sunday, April 14, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. I’ve been told that this is the 18th year of the annual event. The garden is a large, very impressive “schoolyard habitat.” This is a great way to start celebrating Native Plant Week. Visit student flower favorites, lovingly tended to Mojave bluebells (Phacelia campanularia), orange wind poppy (Stylomecon heterophylla), thistle sage (Salvia carduaceae) golden Lindley’s blazing star (Mentzelia lindleyi), purple owl’s clover (Castilleja exserta), meadowfoam (Limnanthes douglasii), tidy tips (Layia platyglossa), desert penstemon (Penstemon pseudospectabilis), outrageous red Eaton’s penstemon (Penstemon eatonii), woolly blue-curls (Trichostema lanatum), beavertail cactus (Opuntia basilaris), many color forms of apricot mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), wild hyacinth (Dichelostemma capitata) and many, many more. Prisk Garden is on Los Arcos Ave. between San Vicente and Albury Sts. in Long Beach.
The habitat gardens at Elizabeth Learning Center in Cudahy still have plenty of surprises in the floral sense. Just a few of the beauties include sand blazing star (Mentzelia involucrata), goldfields (Lasthenia sp.), owls clover (Castilleja sp.), chia (Salvia columbariae), thistle sage (Salvia carduacea), Canterbury bells (Phacelia campanularia), Mojave lupine (Lupinus ordoratus), California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), desert gold poppy (Eschscholzia parishii), apricot mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), desert chicory (Rafinesquia neomexicana), desert dandelion (Malacothrix glabrata), and desert brittlebush (Encelia farinosa). The beavertail cactus (Opuntia basilaris) has just begun to flower as well! The central habitat garden has many wildflowers, but the shrubby California wild lilacs (Ceanothus spp.), bush poppies (Dendromecon harfordii) and pink fairy duster (Calliandra eriophylla) are very showy here as well. The garden in front of the family clinic has all the wildflowers listed above as well as stunning prickly poppy (Argemone sp.), woolly blue curls (Trichostema lanatum) and cobwebby thistle (Cirsium occidentale). Visitors are welcome to visit the campus and enjoy the flowers from 8:00am to 4:00pm Monday thru Friday. They need a visitor pass from the Main Office. The school is located in Cudahy on Elizabeth Street between Atlantic Blvd and Wilcox Ave.
Check out the rare and beautiful Baja desert rose (Rosa minutiflora) at the Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach. Its prickly branches are covered with a bright lime green foliage and pretty pink rose blossoms with yellow centers. There is also a “sage extravaganza” going on in the garden with purple sage (Salvia leucophylla), black sage (Salvia mellifera), Munz’s sage (Salvia munzii), and hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea) in full bloom. Their fragrant cousin, woolly blue curls (Trichostema lanatum) is also in bloom. Enjoy the heady aroma as you stroll along the pathways.
Torrey Pines State Natural Preserve is still experiencing a nice bloom especially along the Guy Fleming, Razor Point and Yucca Point trails. Coast brittlebush (Encelia californica), paintbrush (Castilleja sp.), bush monkeyflower (Mimulus aurantiacus), yellow sea dahlia (Leptosyne [Coreopsis] maritima), bladderpod (Peritoma arborea) and black sage (Salvia mellifera) frame the colorful annuals hugging the ground—sand verbena (Abronia sp.), jewel flower (Streptanthus sp.), wallflower (Erysimum capitatum), California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) and goldfields (Lasthenia sp.) There are showy displays of Mojave yucca (Yucca schidigera) as well. Enjoy it among the Torrey Pines! This is a lovely park in our treasure chest of State Parks and Beaches. A very nice place to visit during California Native Plant Week. The park is emblematic of California with its ocean views and lovely native wildflowers. For stunning pictures of this park, you are invited to view Eva Armi’s photo album TPSR Plants in bloom in late March and April.
Wildflower season is winding down at Harford Springs Preserve in Riverside. There are still patches of California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), baby blue-eyes (Nemophila menziesii) and goldfields (Lasthenia sp.) among the stunning juniper trees and boulders in the landscape. Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla) can be seen as well along the narrow trails that take you through the riparian canopy.
West of Harford Spring and into the Santa Ana Mountains, spend a beautiful day hiking the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve. Approaching the Reserve along Clinton Keith Road, the bush monkeyflower (Mimulus aurantiacus) is especially showy. The Western buttercups (Ranunculus occidentalis) are glorious along the South Trans Preserve Trail. California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) goldfields (Lasthenia gracilis) and baby-blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) and balloon clover (Trifolium depaueratum var. truncatum) also can be seen along trail edges. The bush lupines (Lupinus excubitus var. hallii), Canterbury bells (Phacelia campanularia), Angel’s gilia (Gilia angelensis), and popcorn flower (Plagiobothrys and Cryptantha spp.) mix it up along the trails with the everlastings (Pseudognaphalium spp.) standing tall among them. Search here for another baby blue-eyes species, (Nemophila pedunculata) to add to your list of pretties. The SRP has many fragile soils, lichens and plants. Please stay on the trails to take pictures of flowers.
Also in the Cleveland National Forest, in the Palomar Mountain area along SR76, look for ceanothus (Ceanothus spp.) filling the roadside landscape with beautiful blue blooms. Visit Lake Henshaw soon because the goldfields (Lasthenia sp.) are already declining.
Chuparosa (Justicia californica), and desert brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) are still blooming in some places along the roadside in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Like the desert areas everywhere else in Southern California, the yuccas are stunning this year. Look for the Mojave yucca (Yucca schidigera) in full bloom along S2 in Shelter Valley. Also spectacular are the orange-coral colored flowers of desert mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) in a lot of areas, but especially stunning in Senetec Canyon. In the southern part of the park, many cacti are in full bloom, including the beautiful red flowers of Wolf’s opuntia (Cylindropuntia wolfii), the showy flowers of Engelmann’s hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) and the fuchsia-red flowers on the beavertail cactus (Opuntia basilaris). You can see all of these in bloom along S2 in Sweeney Pass and south toward Ocotillo.
Southern California is all a buzz in recent weeks with reporters in print and TV news talking about the “once-in-a-lifetime” blooms of desert yuccas. Joshua Tree National Park is the place to see these spectacular Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) and Mojave yucca (Yucca schidigera). At the tips of their spiny leaved branches are clusters of creamy white flowers. The wildflower bloom that started in the south end of the park is slowly moving north. The bloom everywhere is sparse, but you can find flowers if you look for them. The Canterbury bells (Phacelia campanularia) are probably the showiest stand outs. Forget-me-nots (Cryptantha spp.), pebble pincushion (Chaenactis carphoclinia) and Parish’s poppy (Eschscholzia parishii) dot the landscape in places. Purple mat (Nama demissum) and the pretty little desert star (Monoptilon bellioides) can be seen lying side by side in sandy washes. Brittle bush (Encelia farinosa), creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), bladderpod (Peritoma arborea) and chuparosa (Justicia californica) color the roadsides and bajadas.
Reports from the Bureau of Land Management Office in Needles indicate that there have been good displays of flowers along the highways between I-15 and I-40 and I-95 in the eastern Mojave. This report is about ten days old, and plants fade quickly in the desert. Having said that, you may see sand vebena (Abronia villosa), dune evening primrose (Oenothera sp.), creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), desert sunflower (Geraea canescens), notch-leaf phacelia (Phacelia crenulata), lupines (Lupinus sp.) and desert encelia (Encelia farinosa) are all visible from the highways. It is especially showy where the bright yellow flowers are contrasted against the black lava flows of the region. Take a little detour along old Route 66 between Needles and Amboy and you will be impressed with the beautiful roadside wildflowers. You must get out and walk around because there are many belly flowers out there that can’t be seen from the car. The Mojave yucca are producing impressive displays in the area as well. Along old Route 66 from U.S. 95 to Fenner the roadside has exploded with desert dandelion (Malacothrix glabrata). U.S. 95 south from Needles to Vidal Junction has nice displays of desert dune primrose (Oenothera sp.), desert dandelion (Malacothrix glabrata), Mojave pincushion (Chaenactis sp.), and a few very nice prickly poppy (Argenome corymbosa) in Lubick Pass. Turtle Mountain Road 23 miles south of Needles on US 95, beaver tail cacti (Opuntia basilaris) are in full bloom and the fishhook cacti (Mammalaria sp.) are just going wild! A note of caution: the bloom has brought out the tortoise in great numbers. Please use caution when driving these areas to avoid harming this threatened species.
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By: Detailed California Wildflower Report 3/21/14 | Natural History Wanderings on March 21, 2014
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