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Page Revised: 04/21/2011 |
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Available Site Reviews Cold Creek Canyon Malibu Creek State Park Circle X Ranch Upper Zuma/Trancas
Canyons Topanga Canyon State Park Corral Canyon Zuma/Trancas Canyons |
Date of Reviews 04/19 04/09 04/04 & 03/30 &
03/19 & 02/22. 03/12 & 02/26. 03/02. 02/26. 02/21 |
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Quick Links: Wildflowers
of the Santa Monica Mountains - Photos of over 800 species. Archive - Previous “What's Blooming” reports. Outdoors - The
Calendar of Events for the Santa Monica Mountains NRA. Wildfowers
Facebook - A place where people can share about flowers. SMM WildFlowers - The Park's popular wildflower app for the iPhone/iPad. |
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We had a great start this year with
many of our winter flowers appearing as early as December. The warm, dry
weather we had early in the season made for pleasant hiking but appears to
have shortened the season for some of our early flowers. I can’t
remember a shorter Bigpod Ceanothus bloom up here at Circle X Ranch. In
addition, that extended dry spell was hard on a lot of the plants. Many of
the typical annual species are pretty scarce. Hopefully the rains have not
returned too late and will keep the flower season alive. I’ve heard
many comments like “... but we’ve had so much rain!” I must
remind people that plants are not very interested in quantity, but much more
dependent on consistency, and
we’ve had very little of that this year. Things are very lush right now
so hopefully some of the annuals can bounce back. I’ve noticed that a
few of the annuals that had pretty much dried up and gone to seed are
flowering again. As always, if you want to contact me
or submit a flower report my email address is at the at the bottom of this
page. See you on the trails. – ed. |
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Cold Creek Preserve |
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Date: 04/19/2011 |
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We hiked in the creek
bed and along the upper trail. We also saw several California frogs in
the creek. The plants that we saw in bloom: Caterpillar phacelia,
popcorn flower, storksbill filaree, canyon
sunflower, sweet yellow clover, horsetail, morning glory, sticky monkey
flower, sugar bush, purple nightshade, bedstraw, blackberry, poison oak, mule
fat, pitcher/hummingbird sage, miner's lettuce, bush lupine, black sage,
California buckwheat, Indian pink, greenbark ceanothus. – Fred and
Nellie |
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Cold Creek Canyon |
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Date: 04/19/2011 |
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We hiked mainly
along the creek but saw a lot of flowers on the path down to the creek and on
another path returning from the creek. There was a lovely grove of white
thorn ceanothus, which is an unusual sight. Most of the blooms on the
white thorns were gone but we spotted a few. We saw a lot of single
stemmed yellow aster-like flowers in the meadow areas. I couldn't find
their name. They had grasslike stems and leaves. These are the
plants we saw in bloom: elderberry, blue dick, purple nightshade, filaree,
wild cucumber, California buckwheat, deerweed, sweet pea, sticky monkey
flower, canyon sunflower, wild dandelion, gooseberry fuschia, yellow sweet clover,
bajada lupine, greenbark ceanothus, pimpernel, black sage, cotton plant,
sugar bush, yarrow, bedstraw, pitcher/hummingbird sage, windmill pink,
blackberry, spring vetch, bur-weed, coastal live oak, shiny lomatium, poison
oak, milk maids, white thorn ceanothus, sow thistle, prickly phlox, pin
cushion, fiesta flower, two tone everlasting, mountain mahogany, chia, yucca,
arroyo willow, scarlet buglar, notable penstemon. – Fred and
Nellie |
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Calabasas |
Headwaters Corner |
Date: 04/12/2011 |
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We hiked around
the visitor's center and up the hill a little ways from the visitor's center.
Then we ventured across the street and up the hill. The plants we saw in
bloom: yarrow, arroyo willow, purple nightshade, black sage, mint leaf
verbena, black walnut, bush sunflower, popcorn flower, white nightshade (this
was up the hill behind the visitor's center, under a large oak tree. The oak
tree was surrounded by brush that was difficult to get through) fiddleneck,
mule fat, blackberry, milk thistle, interior locoweed, yellow sweet clover,
black mustard, annual bedstraw, elderberry, shiny lomatium, hummingbird sage,
blue dicks, mariposa lily, verbena, lupine, purple sage (just one plant in
bloom,) strigose lotus and owl's clover.
– Fred and Nellie |
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Thousand Oaks |
Oakbrook Overlook Trail |
Date: 04/10/2011 |
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This was a short
hike located off Westlake Blvd. near Lang Ranch. It was a lovely day. The hike
has a slight uphill grade that levels out when you reach the ridge. Nice
view. We saw these plants in bloom: Blue eyed grass, popcorn flower, purple
nightshade, gooseberry fuschia, shiny lomatium, fiesta flower, elderberry,
miner's lettuce, black sage, blue dicks, bush sunflower, tall bedstraw and
annual bedstraw, Indian pink, black mustard, sticky monkey flower, wild
cucumber, horehound, scrub oak, slender sunflower, woolly blue curls,
deerweed, California buckwheat, Southern California interior locoweed,
peninsular nolina. – Fred and
Nellie |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 04/09/2011 |
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Today’s hike
was the seventh leg of the 2011 Backbone Trail series co-sponsored by the National
Park Service and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council. We are hiking sections west to east
covering one segment every two weeks. Today's hike direction was reversed as
we ascended and then descended from Saddle Peak down into Dark Canyon and
crossing Piuma Road on to Malibu Canyon.
The following
native species were noted in bloom: scrub oak, golden yarrow, deerweed,
buckwheat, purple nightshade, chamise, prickly phlox, silver lotus, dove
lupine, yellow sweet clover, bull clover, blue dicks, arroyo lupine, black
sage, purple sage, popcorn flower, vetch, sticky monkey flower, everlasting,
sugar bush, bush lupine, greenbark ceanothus, virgin's bower, canyon
sunflower, eucrypta, baby blue eyes, mountain mahogany, fuchsia flowering gooseberry,
chaparral currant, poison oak, bush poppy, big berry manzanita, miner's
lettuce, wild cucumber, coast live oak, white thorn ceanothus, truncated
lupine, crimson pitcher sage, twinning snapdragon, wooly blue curls, morning
glory, caterpillar phacelia, chia sage, mariposa lily, big pod ceanothus,
blue eyed grass, chinese houses, California poppy, wishbone bush, fiesta
flower, lomatium, woolly blue curls, hollyleaf cherry, peony, tomcat clover,
stinging lupine, woodland star, coastal wallflower, pincushion, gilia, owl's
clover, blackberry, winter cress, black walnut, skullcap, summer holly, large
flowered lotus, arroyo willow, blue larkspur, annual or common bedstraw, mule
fat, canyon sweet pea, hedge nettle. Lots of non-native grasses but very good
nonetheless. Our best flower day of the series so far. – G.
Sweel, R. Waycott (and others) |
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Circle X Ranch |
Mishe Mokwa to Split Rock |
Date: 04/03/2011 |
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Though 45 species were
sighted over this 2-mile trail, many were quite sparse compared with most
other years – apparently in response to this year’s “wacky
weather.” With early and late rain, a false spring in between, and
scattered freezes, the flowers have been hard-pressed to gain any momentum.
The most prominent of the profuse were: deerweed near the trailhead, beds of
popcorn flowers, lomatium, virgin’s bower, and goldfields. Other
notables included blue larkspur, chia, wooly blue curls, small-flowered
primrose, turkey pea, bajada lupine, and just a few chocolate lilies. The
day’s bloom rates a “Fair” with hopes for improvement in
coming weeks. However, the day’s clouds, cool conditions, and wealth of
green rate a “Good” to very. – Jack Gillooly. |
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Circle X Ranch |
Grotto Trail |
Date: 03/30/2011 |
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While there is a
rather good selection of flowers nothing seems to be dominating this year. In
particular the annuals seem to be rather sparse. All the regulars can be found
but you have to work at it this year to find some of them. Things to watch
for on this trail include three different kinds of monkey flower, masses of
lush deerweed, California buckwheat, both bush and canyon sunflowers, chia,
both of the common vetches, some early black sage, greenback ceanothus,
several members of the carrot family with their tiny yellow flowers, purple
nightshade, Chinese houses, blue larkspur, California saxifrage, a couple of
our dainty native mustards, blue-eyed grass, blue dicks, a few early chamise,
golden yarrow, morning glory, one star lily but a lot of nearby rosettes,
wishbone bush looking way better than it did a month ago, Parry’s
phacelia, popcorn flowers, a couple of different everlastings, oxalis,
virgin’s bower and one chocolate lily. At fifty different species in
bloom it was a decent variety even if the flowers are a bit sparse. For
reference, in a good year I might expect to see seventy species on this trail
this time of year. – ed. |
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Circle X Ranch |
Sandstone Peak Trail |
Date: 03/19/2011 |
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Though some blooms
were profuse, others are just getting started or still unseen, for this time
of year. There was lots of Deerweed and California buckwheat early on, with
more showy Prickly phlox among 3 species of Ceanothus: Hoary-leaved (white),
Greenbark (pale blue), and Hairy-leaved (dark blue). It was quite a show in
the “Ceanothus Tunnel,” just before the Sandstone Peak spur
trail, but overall species were quite low (just 10). Give it a few more weeks
and some extra rain, hopefully it’ll all come out at once.
– Jack Gillooly |
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Zuma/Trancas Canyons |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 03/12/2011 |
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Today’s hike
was the fifth leg of the 2011 Backbone Trail series cosponsored by the
National Park Service and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council. We
are hiking west to east covering one segment every two weeks. Descending
into Trancas Canyon through dense riparian cover and ascending to Zuma ridge
we did the same through upper Zuma and Newton canyons. The following
native species were noted in bloom: Big pod ceanothus, wild cucumber,
deerweed, fuchsia gooseberry, yarrow, purple nightshade, greenbark ceanothus,
milkmaids, coastal live oak, bindweed - morning glory, wishbone, black sage,
Parry's Phacelia, California buckwheat, mustard evening primrose, sugarbush, sticky monkey flower, dandelion, tone-tone
everlasting, California poppy, chamise, mountain mahagony,
Indian warrior, lomatium, wooley blue curls,
fiddleneck, tall popcorn flower, elderberry, blue dicks, truncated lupin, meadow rue, interior live oak, canyon sunflower,
hollyleaf redberry, peony, prickly pholox,
chaparral currant, arroyo willow, blue larkspur, hoary leaf ceanothus, cliff
aster(?), prickly sow thistle, bush lupine, annual or common bedstraw, mule
fat, sweet pea, chaparral virgin's bower, hedge nettle, saxifrage, lacepod, narrow leaf bedstraw, figwort, arroyo lupin, Indian paintbrush, hummingbird sage, tree poppy,
blue eyed grass, groundsel, poison oak, slender sunflower, bush sunflower,
California everlasting, bay laurel, sticky phacelia. A good flower day. – N.
Cusworth (and others) |
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Topanga Canyon State Park |
Topanga Canyon nature trail |
Date: 03/02/2011 |
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I was here early
on an overcast day. Perhaps that is
why this hike seemed to be more about the fauna than the flora. I stopped counting after seeing more than
twenty deer. I also saw a pocket
gopher, mallards, towhees and ground squirrels. The hills hold a lot of promise for great
flowers but the display is just beginning.
There are white and blue ceanothus, bush lupine, chaparral current,
wishbone flower, sticky monkey flower, wild cucumber, wild morning glory and
fuchsia flowering gooseberry in bloom.
It looks like it will be a great flower season. – Dorothy Steinicke |
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Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area 401 West Hillcrest
Drive 805-370-2301 |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report you can e-mail the
editor at: or phone
Tony at 310-457-6408 |
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What’s Blooming on the web at www.researchlearningcenter.com/bloom or go to www.nps.gov/samo and click on
“What’s Blooming”
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