Welcome to the 20th anniversary season of the Wildflower Hotline!

The Hotline brings you weekly updates on flowers from more than 40 sites across Southern California. Our goal is to help you come to know and appreciate the beautiful diversity of California's native plants.

 Hotline Update 4-04-02

It’s early April, and the peak of this year’s bloom—modest though it may be—is upon us. Rain clouds have tantalized us many times over the past week, but most of Southern California remains dry. More rain may indeed come, but it will likely be too late to make a great difference.

 One boon of this season’s dryness is that it helps us appreciate our local botanic gardens all the more. Continuing our survey of the area’s lesser-known native plant repositories, PRISK BOTANIC GARDEN, a beautiful native plant garden on the grounds of Prisk Elementary School in Long Beach, is holding its annual open house this Sunday from noon to 3 P.M. Come by to see a prime collection of colorful perennials and annual wildflowers that you won’t see elsewhere in the area, such as globe gilia (Gilia capitata), five spot (Nemophila maculata), arroyo lupine (Lupinus succulentus), and meadowfoam (Limnanthes douglasii). The garden is located at 2375 Fanwood Avenue in Long Beach, adjacent to the Cal State Long Beach campus; use the Palo Verde exit off the 405 freeway. If you need more information, call (562) 439-6002.

At the 33-acre CONEJO VALLEY BOTANIC GARDEN in Thousand Oaks, an all-volunteer community operation, native plants abound both in the planted area and in the many acres left wild for you to explore. Be on the lookout for blooming California lilac (Ceanothus sp. and cultivars), coral bells (Heuchera sp. x), hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea), monkey flower (Mimulus aurantiacus), tree lupines (Lupinus arboreus), redbuds (Cercis occidentalis), and even some Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla). There are plenty of trails to stroll, as well as spots to rest and contemplate the landscape. The native meadow garden, sage garden, and butterfly garden may inspire gardening ideas of your own. You can continue your outing afterwards at the adjacent Conejo Community Park. Get directions to the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden by calling (805) 494-7630.

Despite our dry year, trails in the Santa Monica Mountains are blooming here and there. Botanist Barbara Collins tips us that in eastern Thousand Oaks, a burn area east of the Lang Ranch development has a small collection of particularly beautiful wildflowers including blue dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum), eucrypta (Eucrypta chrysanthemifolia), mariposa lilies (Calochortus sp.), coast paintbrush (Castilleja affinis), whispering bells (Emmenanthe penduliflora), and violet snapdragon (Antirrhinum nuttallianum).

In the central Santa Monicas, the trail leading from Tapia Park to Malibu Creek State Park has a sprinkling of fuchsia-flowering gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) and California peonies (Paeonia californica) at the first bend, along with a dusting of bright orange pincushion flowers (Chaenactis glabriuscula) blooming their hearts out on two-inch stems. After the first ridge, scraggly bush poppies (Dendromecon rigida) line the trial. The entrance to Tapia Park is on the west side of Malibu Creek/Las Virgenes Canyon Road, just south of the entrance to Malibu Creek State Park.

 West of here, the beautiful NEWTON CANYON off Kanan Road has some unexpected finds, including a colony of Indian warrior (Pedicularis densiflora), along with milkmaids (Cardamine californica), and some blue larkspur (Delphinium patens). A hill of bush poppies is also migrating into full bloom. Parking for the Newton Canyon trail is on the west side of Kanan Dume Road, just north of Tunnel 1.

At CHARMLEE PARK in Malibu, the season is peaking with many a lupine, including bush lupines (Lupinus longifolius), along with canyon sunflowers (Venegasia carpesioides), blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum), canyon pea (Lathyrus vestitus), wishbone bush (Mirabilis californica), and the glowing red of Indian paintbrush (Castilleja sp.). The planted areas around the parking area and bathrooms are particularly floriferous. On the trails, also look for collections of yellow buttons on foot-high stems—this is snakeroot (Sanicula arguta), so called because its roots were thought to cure the bites of serpents. The Charmlee Nature Center can be reached at (310) 457-7247.

 This Saturday, April 6th, is your last day to hike SOLSTICE CANYON in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation area, because an 8-month-long renovation of the parking lot begins on Sunday, April 7th. The Solstice Canyon Trail along the creek is pretty with California blackberry (Rubus ursinus), purple and white nighshades (Solanum xanti and S. douglasii), hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea), and elderberry (Sambucus mexicana). A slope full of glowing blue-purple fiesta flowers (Pholistoma auritum) greets you further along the trail. Solstice Canyon is just off Pacific Coast Highway about one mile north of Malibu Canyon Road.

 As elsewhere in our dry area, only bits and pieces are blooming in San Diego at the CABRILLO NATIONAL MONUMENT. Rangers tip us that areas along sidewalks and roads, where the water has run off and fed the parched soil, have some blooms, including California bush sunflower (Encelia californica), California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), bladderpod (Isomeris arborea), sea dahlia (Coreopsis maritima), and lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia). The Monument’s phone number is (619) 557-5450.

 In Riverside county, meanwhile, the chocolate lilies have faded at the SANTA ROSA PLATEAU ECOLOGICAL PRESERVE, but the California buttercups (Ranunculus californicus) are still making a reasonable showing in the grasslands, and a cluster of owl's clover (Castilleja exserta) has begun blooming across the road from the Vernal Pool trailhead.

 Blooms are even more sparse in the San Gabriel Mountains. Unstoppable shrubs such as bush poppy (Dendromecon rigida) and mule fat (Baccharis glutinosa) are in bloom up to 3,000 feet, while wild cucumber (Marah macrocarpus) and yerba santa (Eriodictyon crassifolium) are best around 4,000 feet.

 In the San Gabriel foothills, flowers are spotty along the trails at EATON CANYON, but the demonstration gardens around the Nature Center are growing lush and bloomy, with standouts being Cleveland sage (Salvia clevelandii), monkey flower (Mimulus aurantiacus), bladderpod (Isomeris arborea), canyon sunflower (Venegasia carpesioides), and everyone’s favorite, wooly blue curls (Trichostema lanatum). The wildflower garden is dotted with colorful blooms that are scare in the field in this dry year, including poppies (Eschscholzia californica), phacelia (Phacelia sp.), and scarlet bugler (Penstemon centranthifolius). Eaton Canyon’s phone number is (626) 398-5420.

 Up the coast at CACHUMA LAKE RECREATION AREA near Santa Barbara, trails are still going strong with California buttercup (Ranunculus californicus) and hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea), plus the rich purples of dove lupine (Lupinus bicolor) and arroyo lupine (Lupinus succulentus). The California peonies are just finishing for the year, but their pods are worth a peek. To learn more, call the Recreation Area at (805) 688-4515.

 In northern Santa Barbara county, the bloom continues to spread at Figueroa Mountain in the LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST, providing the best show in all of Southern California. California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) and sky lupines (Lupinus nanus) are coloring the hillsides and meadows, with dozens more species adding reds, yellows, and blues to the mix. To learn more, call the Figueroa Mountain wildflower hotline at (805) 928-3601.

 Moving further north, the area along Jolon Road above Bradley in southern Monterey County has a feast of particularly beautiful annuals with evocative names, including cream cups (Platystemon californicus), desert dandelion (Malacothrix glabrata), baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii), goldfields (Lasthenia sp.), linanthus (Linanthus sp.), poppy (Eschscholzia californica), thistle sage (Salvia carduacea), red maids (Calandrinia ciliata), blue witch (Solanum umbelliferum), and fiddleneck (Amsinckia sp.).

 Finally, in the San Bernardino Mountains, the beautiful lavender mountain lilac (Ceanothus cordulatus) is starting its annual show around 5,000 feet along Highway 330, and the mountaintop meadows are slowly starting to green up, with a few yellow cinquefoils (Potentilla anserina) and (P. glandulosa) opening up. The pebble plains area around Big Bear Valley is also starting its display of tiny “belly flowers” such as Parish's rockcress (Arabis parishii), dwarf pussytoes (Antennaria dimorpha) and Douglas’ violets (Viola douglasii), and the willows are leafing out along the mountain highways (Highway 38/330). Also, in Lucerne Valley off Highway 18 and Highway 247 at lower elevations, 1,000 to 2,000 feet, the creosote (Larrea tridentata) is giving its best considering the lack of water.

 Visit us here at the Theodore Payne Foundation in the eastern San Fernando Valley to see a variety of lovely flowers, including blowsy bush lupines (Lupinus albifrons), showy penstemon (Penstemon spectabilis), California poppies, and various cultivars of coral bells. Visit our bookstore, nursery, and seed store to learn how to grow a wildflower meadow in your own yard. We are open Tuesday through Saturday 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and Sunday 11:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Reach us at (818) 768-1802.

 That’s all for this week. Happy flower hunting!