Flower Search, Tuesday March 1, 2016

remember, it’s just barely March, things aren’t due out yet…. but some have jumped the gun! Also, we’re scheduled for maybe rain this weekend, Sunday 3/6-8 - we NEED rain!! Wash your car, wash all your windows, hang laundry out to dry, do something to make it rain here!!!

Where I found nice flowers today: more coming

9 Mile Canyon, lower end of.Chia, Coreopsis, etc. along the road. But - the gems are in the 2 “S-curve gardens” - where you turn sharply and there’s space to the north. The lower garden has a lot of yellow and white, but the prize is the upper of the 2 gardens - bunches of Charlotte’s Phacelia, some right by the road!!!! Also Coreopsis, Chia, white evening primrose, while Cryptantha (forget me not-type);

The gem! Charlotte’s Phacelia, Phacelia nashiana; endemic, rare, protected!

Short Canyon; DWP just (like yesterday?) graded the road all the way in and over to IWV Canyon - never seen it so nice!!!! Don’t take your Porsche, but any city car can do it now!

Go to Brady’s and go south of the big billboard, then sharp right onto the recently graded road. Follow it up, cross the white aqueduct, and bear left on the road which, in the past, has been a sandy pain. it’s FINE now - no sand!! Bladder pod out along the road so far. After the S turn, Pincushion, Chia, etc. No poppies yet. Go up to the forks. Straight ahead is the now nicely graded road to the hiking trail over the hill. Nice parking lot, no ditches like in the past. Stuff gets better as you go up the trail and over the hill. some Coreopsis, some other stuff.

But - the treasure at this moment is the lower road up to the “waterfall trail” at the turnaround. Follow the aqueduct road south to the crossing to this road. Note the hillside to the SW of Short which is solid yellow with Coreopsis! Has this hill done this before? I don’t think I’ve seen it do this?? Anyway, from the time you cross the cattle guard (caution), there is a ton of little things - lots of Phacelia in the bushes, lots of blue Gilia and Yellow Throat (which may be dark purple), lots of Coreopsis, Scale Bud, Dandelions, little yellow Wallace’s Eriophyllum, etc. and one poppy at the turn-around. It’s lovely!!

Not worth it yet - like nothing happening at all. Give these 2-3 weeks, at least!!Indian Wells Canyon - lower - nothing yet, some green.Aqueduct Road from IW Canyon to Short Cyn - a few Coreopsis on north end, much green, good potentialWalker Pass - some Joshua buds starting, no flowers yet. Canebrake Creek - nope. South Fork Valley - nope. South Fork Crossing - nope. Give um at least 3 weeks.

Kelso Valley Road, south of Hwy 178 - some nice green, some yellow on hills, fruit trees blooming, but ….

Hwy 395 north of 14 intersection - lots of Dandelions, Brittle Bush just starting.