Great new little wildflower guide!

Hi everyone!  I just came across this neat little guide, put out by Santa Clara County Parks.  I encourage you to print out a copy and check off these species as we come across them, we have seen the majority already!  It will help you to remember the names.  Check it out at: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/Whats-Happening/Documents/wildflower-guide.pdf

Santa Teresa Recap

Hi everyone, WOW, thanks for a fantastic hike yesterday!  We saw so much beauty, what an awesome time to be in a gorgeous park!

There's no way I can touch on everything we saw, so a couple highlights only.  Feel free to post pics or ask questions in the comments section.

Right out of the gate we saw some awesome bulbs.  Here's a great little article about Ithuriel's spear (explains the name origin): http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/triteleia_laxa.shtml.  We also saw a bunch of Brodeia, here's a good link with pictures: http://calscape.org/Brodiaea-elegans-(Harvest-Brodiaea)?srchcr=sc5706e03ecae8f.

We mused for quite some time on the medicinal and alcoholic possibilities of Mexican Elderberry.  Some of us enjoyed the flower smell more than others.  Here's an article which discusses literature on medicinal uses.  My own experience is that the berries make a tasty and helpful tincture.  Never consume leaves, and always cook berries thoroughly before use.  http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/Plants%20of%20Upper%20Newport%20Bay%20(Robert%20De%20Ruff)/Caprifoliaceae/Sambucus%20mexicana.htm

We also talked about Yarrow (the white flower in the pic above with Pat) and its uses in native plant landscaping.  Yarrow, and many other native wildflowers, grow easily from seed.  I recommend Larners Seed for wildflower seeds.  It is the only company that I know of that sells ONLY California natives, so you don't have to worry about origin.  The website is informative. The founder, Judith Larner Lowry, is an excellent author and a bit of a local legend.  Check it out at:  http://www.larnerseeds.com/

Wildflower shows such as the one we enjoyed yesterday are because of serpentinite, the California state rock.  It's poor in nutrients and high in heavy metals, and our local wildflowers have evolved to enjoy exactly these conditions.  Here's an article about it:  http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/information/publications/cgs_notes/note_14/Documents/note_14.pdf.

We were very lucky to see an extremely rare plant, the Santa Clara County Dudleya.  Unfortunately I didn't get any good picture, but if you did, post it in the comments.  If you look at the Calflora map, here:  http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Dudleya+abramsii+ssp.+setchellii, you'll see what a tiny distribution it has.  Those are the only places where it occurs in the world!

Towards the end of the day we enjoyed the glorious sights and smells of California buckeye.  We saw a tiger swallowtail nectaring on its flowers.   As our class precedes, we'll have plenty chance to smell it when more flowers are open.

Thanks again, and I will see you in two weeks at Coal Mine Ridge!

Santa Teresa County Park today, 11-3

Hi everyone!  Very much looking forward to hiking with you today!  It seems impossible to reach a human at this park, so I'm unclear if we can park at what's called the Pueblo Day Use area, but we'll be parking in the main entrance area off Bernal Road.  Here are the directions from the website:   From Santa Clara Valley, take US 101 or Highway 85 to the Bernal Road exit. Proceed west 1.3 miles on Bernal Road and cross Santa Teresa Boulevard toward the Santa Teresa Hills. Bernal Road continues past the park's Santa Teresa Golf Club, winding up into the hills.

There's a big open area with parking, bathrooms, water, and signage, and that's where we'll meet.  If you have questions or concerns, call or text me at:  (408)597-7830.

I look forward to hiking with you soon - should be a gorgeous day!

Russian Ridge Recap

Hi everyone, thanks for a glorious hike yesterday. What beauty is nature, huh?  And this will be a wildflower year for the records.

To learn more about any plant, do a google search on the LATIN name.  You'll find a ton of info!  Yesterday we saw plenty of plants that we have seen many times before, like:

Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum)
California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
California buttercups (Ranunculus californica)

We also saw some plants that are kind of new to us, like Common Checkerbloom (Sildacea malviflora), pictured here with CA poppy,
Red maids (Calandrinia cilata)
and Woodland Starflower (Lithophragma officionalis).

We FINALLY saw newts!  And here's a cool article about them: http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/california_coastal_range_newt

Please remember that next week we have a different hike time, 11-3.  Let me know if you can't make it.  I believe we'll be meeting at the PUEBLO DAY USE CENTER but once I'm able to confirm that we can park there, I'll post it here.  The fee to enter the park is $6 per vehicle so carpooling is encouraged!  Here's the map of the park:  https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Documents/Santa-Teresa-map.pdf.

I look forward to hiking with you soon!  Feel free to post your pics in the comments sections.

Hike rescheduled due to rain

Hi everyone, 

Well, I was hoping to power through, but I understand that it's raining heavily where we are planning to go, and it rained all night which means the trails will be muddy.  So let's go ahead and reschedule for next Saturday.

Same bat time same bat channel, but next Saturday instead of this.

Let me know if you have any questions.

New Resource + Saturday's hike

Hi everyone!  It looks like we will have some showers Saturday, but so far it doesn't look too terrible.  I will post here if the forecast becomes extreme enough to cancel.

I wanted to let you know about a cool new resource; POST has published a "Wildflower Guide" with just 15 species, many of which we've already seen in class.  It's a great resource because it's simple and focused...and free!  Check it out at: https://openspacetrust.org/wildflower-download/