Spring 2013 Wildflowers & Views

Here are some pictures taken at O'Neill Regional Park on March 30th to give you an idea of what's blooming this Spring. Some of the pictures are blurry, but I had to keep up with my family who knows I'd spend far too long taking pictures if they waited for me :)

California buttercup (Ranunculus californicus) The petals appear almost plastic the way they reflect the light


Blue Dicks / Wild Hyacinth (Dichelostemma capitatum )

Single track trail overlooking Prickly Pear with Wild Cucumber crawling over it

Prickly Pear just beginning to bloom

Behr’s Metalmark (Apodemia virgulti)

Spring Vetch (Vicia sativa)

Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)

Black Mustard with Modjeska (named after Shakespearean Actress Helena Modjeska) and Santiago Peaks behind

Silver Puffs (Uropappus lindleyi)

Black Sage (Salvia mellifera)

Catalina Mariposa Lily (Calochortus catalinae)

Owl’s Clover (Castilleja exserta)

Our Lord’s Candle (Hesperoyucca whipplei)

Dry Vernal Pool - not enough rain to fill the vernal pool this year. I believe the frogs here estivate until the pool fills with water. I wonder if they can survive two years?

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja)

Lupine with Vernal Pool behind

My daughter walking in the vernal pool

Cocklebur around the rim of the Vernal Pool

Lady bugs on the vegetation growing in the vernal pool

The dark compact soil of the vernal pool

Picturesque field of Lupine in the foreground of the Saddleback Mountains
Pure joy having a moment to paint outdoors! Felt inspired by Lilias Trotter's "Blossom in the Desert" which just arrived last week :)

More Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja)

Wild Morning Glory / Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) See the spider?

The trail back


What's blooming by you?

Comments

  1. Just made a list last weekend of the wildflowers along the roadsides in our city: poppies, bermuda sorrel, winter vetch, mustard (field? I have trouble differentiating among black mustard, field mustard, western wallflowers, etc.), wild radish, and lots and lots of dandelions!

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  2. Lovely! Makes me long for a trip west to see some of these myself... thanks for sharing.

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  3. Thanks for sharing what is happening in your neck of the woods! It's nice to have a small area's common flora identified- love it. A different feeling than the fragmented field guide :) Thanks for both names as well.

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