Natural History Wanderings

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation are just posted a new set of wildflower reports:

  I  hiked up the Old Boney Trail from Sycamore Canyon Road over into Serrano Valley yesterday and was surprised by how green some parts of it were. It reminded me of January in a more typical year: a lot of small green plants and a scattering of a flowers here and there. Unfortunately there were also signs of things drying up as well. It was probably the most flowers I’d seen so far this year but I must admit it was a lot of hiking to accumulate a pretty short list of plants. Some of the lushness was probably a result of post-burn green-up after last year’s Springs Fire. The bulbs seem to be up in force this year even if the annuals are largely missing in action. Not that most of the bulbs are flowering, but they are up. I was on business so I couldn’t stop and dawdle but it reminded me that there are alway trails worth looking at even in the midst of a historic drought. My guess is that most of what I saw will be gone in a few weeks but it was invigorating to see this modest display in an otherwise poor year. 
         The rain a month ago eased the drought a bit but it is still a long way from being over. Only a week after that rain the winds were picking up huge clouds of dust from the dirt parking lot here, something you would never see in a more typical March. The ground was dry as a bone and most of the water has disappeared into that vacuum literally without a trace. Similarly, the creeks are still not running, another sign that a mere 6″ of rain does end a severe drought. People are reporting that the rain has triggered some of the perennials into flower. For example, the wild cucumber is beginning to look pretty good but it is late in the season for that plant. You might check the coast for the giant coreopsis, and some of the ground flowers in the meadows have picked up as well, but nothing spectacular. It looks like we can’t expect much from the annuals this year. The saddest thing is seeing how many large old trees have died. If we have to cut down many more trees I’m afraid the campground here at CXR is going to look pretty barren by the end of the year. There is still a possibility of rain but the weather people are calling it “late season” when they talk about it.