(no subject)

[elainegrey]

This morning was beautiful: I drove to Woodside for brunch at the venerable Bucks and watched red tail hawks soaring above 280, tails flashing in dramatic contrast with the blue sky. While i notice new grass growing near home, the Stanford hills struggle to be green, the gold dulled by mildew and not yet replaced by green except in a few folds in the hills. The coastal oaks have lost their leaves and their lacy branch work attracted my eye. The mustard lined the highway, bright yellow: what will the wildflower season be like this year with this drought?

As i drove from brunch to Meeting for Business i felt inspired to go on wildflower hunting road trips: what about TODAY? By the time our Meeting was over, hazy clouds obscured the sky, dimming my enthusiasm for being out today.

Instead, i've spent far too much time searching our resources on the web and speculating about wildflowers and camping in April: Henry Coe State Park is close and closing; the BLM lands in the Hollister field office -- the Panoche & Griswold Hills -- will be sweltering in summer, but what about April? And are we up to "dispersed camping," digging our own latrine and carrying all the water we need?

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Henry Coe "What's Blooming Now" http://www.coepark.org/wildflowers/blooming.html
Camping: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=561
1 hr drive


mid Mar - June: docent led walks in Edgewood
http://www.friendsofedgewood.org/springtime-wildflower-walks
27 min drive, every Saturday and Sunday from March 17 through June 3. Walks begin at 10:00 AM and end around 1:00 PM.

March - May: The Wildflower Hotline http://www.theodorepayne.org/hotline.html

Twenty South Bay Wildflower Hotspotshttp://www.openspace.org/preserves/highlight_wildflowers.asp

Edgewood, Henry Coe and the Pinnacles are well-known as wildflower hotspots. Here is a list of 20 wildflower hotspots in the South Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains, and beyond that includes others you may have missed. It is posted on the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District website with links to agency websites for more information about trails and logistics.

In general, Russian Ridge, Pulgas, Sierra Azul, Monte Bello, Los Trancos, Windy Hill, and Picchetti Open Space Preserves are some of the best Midpeninsula Regional Open Space preserves for spring wildflowers in the months of March, April and May.

Sunny, grassy trail sections are typically best for spring wildflowers. And don’t forget that in late winter (January - March) there are often good wildflowers on the shady trails, and in early spring (March - April) the chaparral shrubs have their own fragrant wildflower blooms.

http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/recreation/wildflowers.html

Lands managed by the Hollister Field Office -"The wildflower season is short but spectacular, particularly ... along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. The BLM manages several large blocks of public land in the Valley, including the Panoche, Tumey, and Ciervo Hills. If you are fortunate, you might see the federally listed California jewelflower, San Joaquin wooly-star and San Joaquin wooly-threads, all found in the San Joaquin Valley. More common are the mariposa lily, purple owl's clover, indian paintbrush and the yucca. For more information, contact the Hollister Field Office at (831) 630-5000.