Monterey County Wildflowers
We have had six months of pleasantly cool weather with plenty of moisture in California this year, and the Memorial Day weekend was a perfect time to look for tiny treasures in the Los Padres National Forest and environs of southern Monterey County.
The harlequin lupine (above) was perhaps one of the most interesting flowers I found, and it was only in a small patch of ground. They aren’t rare, but I guess they’re also not common.
The color combination of these short lupines is unusual and lovely.
There are numerous kinds of mariposa lilies in California, and I’ve seen at least two of them.
The splendid mariposa has these white fibers on the inside.
There are several more “normal” types of lupines as well, but even with several guides I’m at a loss to narrow down the species.
I think the lupines with the white tips are Sky Lupines. Several patches of scarlet buglers were alongside the road.
I didn’t realize there were two varieties of the peach colored sticky monkeyflowers until I looked on the Monterey County wildflowers website. Apparently these are Santa Lucia sticky monkeyflowers, Diplacus linearis. When I first saw them last year, they reminded me of the Exbury azaleas common in gardens in the Pacific Northwest.
There were also several types of thistle. I’m going to do my best with the IDs but will change them if somebody more knowledgeable corrects me.
Cobwebby thistle, Cirsium occidentale var occidentale 
Italian thistle, Carduus pycnocephalus 
Venus thistle 
Italian thistle, Carduus pycnocephalus 
Maltese star thistle, Centaurea melitensis 
Some flowers had already gone to seed, and I’m thinking the seed display is prettier than the actual blooms. Again, I am giving these IDs my best guess.
Black sage, Salvia mellifera
Hedge parsley, Torilis arvensis 
Two kinds of clarkia, with one looking more like a miniature magenta poppy.
Elegant clarkia, Clarkia unguiculata 
Wine cup clarkia, Clarkia purpurea
All of these flowers were on or near the Del Venturi Road that goes through Fort Hunter Liggett into the Los Padres National Forest. Here are some scenes of “The Indians” rock formations and a view off the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road.
There were many other flowers as well, and if I know the name, I’ve included it.
Goldenstar, Bloomeria crocea
The leaves were soft as lamb’s ears 
Indian milkweed, Asclepias eriocarpa 
Chamise 
Blue elderberry
Buckwheat (white) 
Hedge parsley 
Fiddleneck sp. 
White-tipped clover in wet area 
Blue elderberry 
Oregon yampa
The male ruddy duck was displaying at Del Venturi Pond. Well, it took as much time to find IDs for these flowers as it did to make the trip and take the photos! Flowers are a lot harder than birds to identify, but far easier to photograph.
Photos and text copyrighted by Cindy McIntyre
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Website: CindyMcIntyre.com
Online gallery: Smugmug and Fine Art America
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Pinnacles National Park – Wildflowers Second Wave
The first wave of wildflowers at Pinnacles National Park has gone by, and the second wave is going strong even though the grass has now turned brown and gone to seed.
The California buckwheat was beginning to bloom, and this head was the nicest of the bunch.
California buckwheat 
Probably fiddleneck seeds 
Grasses gone to seed 
Elegant Clarkia field
Fortunately, I am the kind of person that can take an hour on a one-mile trail because every new flower or butterfly fascinates me, and I must record it via pixels.
Butterfly mariposa lily 
I couldn’t get a view into the insides of the mariposa lilies because they were on the hillsides. It was odd that they seemed to grow as singles or in very small groups.
Many flowers were brand new to me, and it took me several hours after I got home and edited the photos to find IDs. I feel rather proud of that effort, although there’s no way I’ll remember the Latin names.
This soap plant flowers were actually maybe only an inch across when fully opened.
Soap plant 
The goldenstars were also lovely and new to me.
Goldenstar (Bloomeria crocea) 
At the turnaround point were lovely views of the pinnacles. I hoped to see a California condor, as I had seen several juveniles on my very first visit about five years ago. No luck.
There were sprinkles of Witches Hair (dodder) that added an orange complement to the flower-dotted brown landscape.
Deerweed (Acmispon glaber) 
I think these are goldenstars with strange bulbous stems 
Parry’s larkspur 
Parry’s larkspur 
Dense flowered willowherb (Epilobium densiflorum)
An artist or photographer often finds great joy in finding just the right angles, the most beautiful specimen, the prettiest background for the subject at hand. That means we are S..L..O..W and most folks get impatient waiting for us. That’s why I prefer to be alone on these trips.
Crinkled onion (Allium crispum)
Male Acmon Blue
Invasive yellowstar thistle
Not sure about this one
Even though my visit was on Memorial Day, there really weren’t that many people there. Maybe because the weather the previous day had been quite cold and raw (for May). It’s amazing what you can see if you walk slowly and look closely at the hidden gems that compete with the beautiful rockscapes called The Pinnacles.
Photos and text copyrighted by Cindy McIntyre
Feel free to reblog or share
Website: CindyMcIntyre.com
Online gallery: Smugmug and Fine Art America
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Contact: cindy at cindymcintyre.com
Pinnacles National Park
Flowers have been blooming all over California for a couple of months, and despite the end of the rainy season, they are still going strong. Early blooms go to seed and mid- to late-season blooms replace them.
These are among the early bloomers at Pinnacles National Park. The Fremont’s star lily is in the same toxic family as the death camas, which is what I thought it was at first. The park has a nice wildflower guide on its website which set me straight. This visit was on April 15, so the landscape will look different now.
Read the rest of this entry »Central Coast Wildflowers
My photos needing editing are covering my computer desktop, so I’d better get these up while the flowers are still blooming.
Last year there were almost no wildflowers blooming in southern Monterey County, and the green grasses from the winter rains didn’t last very long.
Read the rest of this entry »Carrizo Plain Just Gets Better!
I have viewed wildflowers in many parts of the country, from the giant lupines in Maine to the sub-alpine bouquets of Mount Rainier, the bluebonnet and paintbrush fields of Texas, and the superbloom in the California deserts. But I have never seen the type of expansive floral bounty as I have in the Carrizo Plain National Monument.
Tidy Tips 
Owl’s Clover 
Fiddleneck closeup 
Owls Clover 
Phacelia 
Phacelia 
Phacelia 
Fiddleneck
More Superbloom
I discovered a very pretty hillside two weeks ago when I exited the southern end of Soda Lake Road in Carrizo Plain National Monument, and took a short drive to explore.
I love the soft curves of the grassy hills in Central Coast California, and am still wowed by the brilliant greens which we hardly saw last year. But add in the vivid yellow hillside daisies, and the goldfields belly flowers, and I’m in loooooovvvveeee with the landscape.
Read the rest of this entry »Carrizo Plain Wildflower Feast
For some reason, people seem to think the purple wildflowers are the most desirable, or at least the best colors to set off the sunshine yellows of the goldfields and hillside daisies at Carrizo Plain National Monument.
Me, I’m a fan of yellow. Lemon yellow. The most brilliant yellow that has carpeted the hills and fields of this area. I do love it when a smattering of purple shows up, however. Yellow, green, purple. Sometimes goldenrod where there are the fiddlenecks. If I could get orange California poppies added to the quilt I’d be in wildflower heaven.
Read the rest of this entry »Carrizo Plain Wildflowers-March 3
It only took a week and a little more rain and cool weather, and the yellow splashes on a few hillsides spread like wet paint splattered on the landscape. While most of the wild color occurs just outside the Carrizo Plain National Monument, it is clearly visible from Soda Lake and Seven Mile Roads.
I love clouds that add depth and an ever-changing light show, and because the plain is skirted by two rows of hills, the clouds were held back just enough to allow sunlight to dapple the soft hills.
Read the rest of this entry »Carrizo Plain Winter Birds
Last week’s visit to Carrizo Plain National Monument yielded some nice birds as well as a herd of at least 100 Tule elk about a half mile in the distance.
Read the rest of this entry »Wildflowers are Starting!
There is talk of another “super bloom” in California. I missed the one two years ago because I was living in Oklahoma at the time.
But we’ve been blessed with quite a bit of rain the last two months, and it’s looking good for a repeat performance.
Read the rest of this entry »
