Birdsy Purplefish

Some interesting weathering on this rock. Kind of like #tafoni? #HoneycombWeathering? Some of them had animal nests in them. (at In-Ko-Pah County Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr1YpUwvr4j/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Apparently this is a #LongNosedSnake / #RhinocheilusLecontei. I didn’t see its nose because it kept its head buried in the sand. Even when I walked around it all it did was flinch a little. Someone who knows about snakes please explain. (at In-Ko-Pah County Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CrztlMKtpAu/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

A whimsical rock formation and #SalviaColumbariae / #Chia (or #GoldenChia because it’s not the same as the other chia that people eat & make chia pets with). #McCainValleyRecreationArea #McCainValley #CaliforniaNativePlants #bureauoflandmanagement #blmlands (at McCain Valley Recreation Area) https://www.instagram.com/p/CrreZoWumH-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#PapaverCalifornicum / #FirePoppy This one wasn’t in a post-fire area, it just looks like some dormant seeds slid down a hill into some decent sunlight. Some #firefollowers don’t need smoke or heat but instead are reacting to being exposed to enough light to germinate. #californianativeplants #papaver #fireecology #wildfirestowildflowers (at Lawson Valley) https://www.instagram.com/p/CreJsM-vcvj/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Now back to #CaliforniaNativePlants posting! I blasphemed the other day posting a couple of my cultivated exotic flowers during #CaliforniaNativePlantWeek, but in my defense that’s every week for me. Anyway… I got to go on another trip to a vernal pool site! @friendsofpqcanyon hosted a guided walk around their Lopez Ridge vernal pool preserve which was wonderful. 1. #DowningiaCuspidata, a vernal pool obligate also known as #ToothedCalicoflower. Very photogenic. 2. This photo just goes to show the extremes of this environment. There are prickly pear cacti (Opuntia sp., I’m guessing littoralis?) growing in between the #vernalpools full of downingia. This species can handle being drenched when it’s cool as long as they’re bone dry in the summer, and that’s exactly how it is here. A clay sponge full of puddles and then it’s like a bone-dry adobe brick. #MediterraneanClimate! 3. Zooming out more, we can sort of see a ground-level view of a #minamound. See that little island of chaparral shrubs in the center with the taller grass around the edges? That’s a mound. The #mimamounds in Southern California are thought to be the work of hundreds of generations of gophers trying to not get flooded out. You can see them in satellite [imagery & they look kind of like b. wrap. 4. Zooming further out you can see #LastheniaGracilis / #CommonGoldfields next to that vernal pool. They need open spaces without a lot of tall grasses and other plant shading them out. The areas around the vernal pools work well for that. You can also see the vernal pools’ natural predator, the Housing Development. 5. There are many species of lasthenia and one part of telling them apart is looking at the phyllaries, the leafy things at the base of the flower head. Somebody made a good YT video about how to distinguish between the species in San Diego County that I often have to refer back to. 6. A nice patch of goldfields and owl’s clover (Castilleja sp.) and more of that mima mound/vernal pool complex topography that leaves grassy openings. Good stuff. [CAPTION TOO LONG. SEE COMMENTS.] (at Friends of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve) https://www.instagram.com/p/CrJmCKvuZj0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Love to find little carpets of #DiplacusBigelovii / #BigelowsMonkeyflower. (This was last week. The bloom is fading fast.) #anzaborregodesertstatepark #borregosprings #borregopalmcanyon #diplacus #phyrmaceae #monkeyflower #californianativeplants (at Borrego Palm Canyon Trail) https://www.instagram.com/p/CrBsTgjrk_0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

A #naturalbouquet with a lovely color combo: #SphaeralceaAmbigua (#desertmallow / #apricotmallow) + #PhaceliaDistans (#distantphacelia / #commonphacelia). This was last week & things have heated up since then but I’m sure it’s not completely over yet. #californianativeplants #borregosprings #borregopalmcanyon #desertbloom #californiawildflowers #colorcombo #anzaborregodesertstatepark #sonorandesert #coloradodesert (at Borrego Palm Canyon Trail) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq8pnRHuAsr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

The day before yesterday I had the immense privilege of visiting #MiramarMounds #NationalNaturalLandmark with @cnpssd. This area is part of #MCASMiramar & not open to the public. It’s the largest remaining mima mound-vernal pool complex in Southern California and home to the federally endangered San Diego Fairy Shrimp and several endangered plants. #MimaMounds—named after the Mima Prairie in Washington state where they’re also found—are small, fairly uniform hummocks that give the landscape a strange bumpy texture when seen from above. Between the mounds are #vernalpools, shallow seasonal ponds that form where the soil has a nearly-impermeable hardpan underneath. Evidence suggests that the mounds are the result of generations of pocket gophers pushing dirt uphill rather than the usual downhill, which they do in places with low water tables. (Look it up, it’s fascinating!). The pools are soaking wet during the rainy season & dry as adobe bricks the rest of the year. It’s a harsh environment and the plants & animals that live in them have interesting adaptations to it. In Southern California, flat land is the favorite habitat of the highly invasive Suburban Sprawl, which has destroyed an estimated 90-97% of all vernal pool habitat. This land was spared development because it’s owned by a military base. See comments for plant info because my caption was gonna be too long. #californianativeplants (at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq2O9WJOIM4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Earlier today: a hillside covered in #BahiopsisLaciniata, AKA #SanDiegoCountySunflower #SanDiegoViguiera #TornleafGoldeneye. Photo 3, earlier this year: a much closer photo of this species. Considered rare in California because of its limited distribution, this small shrub is common in San Diego County on south-facing slopes in coastal sage scrub and chaparral. It blooms for a long time and it’s pretty tough. It seems to like growing on dry, hot, rocky slopes. (at Jamul, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CquM_0rNOMi/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Got to see #altJ on the third sold out LA show for their #AnAwesomeWave anniversary tour! Ten years and some change ago that album brought me great comfort and rekindled a love of music that I had almost forgotten. I’m so glad I found it when I did. It was great to finally hear the whole thing live. Thanks, guys! (at The Wiltern) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqM5zQ9soeZ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Interrupting the native wildflowers to share the results of a floral experiment. I read that #CerintheMajorPurpurascens / #BlueHoneywort will wilt in a vase unless you cauterize the cut ends by dipping them in boiling water or burning them with a flame for a few seconds. I seared the ends of the ones on the right on a gas stove & didn’t do anything to the ones on the left. Look at the difference it made! The control group looks like crap and the cauterized ones look exactly the same as they did yesterday. This is a neat tip! I’m not sure what other flowers it works with but I’m going to try next time I want to pick something that wilts too fast. #cutflowers #floristry #cerinthe #cerinthemajor #boraginaceae #blueshrimpplant https://www.instagram.com/p/CpvnQrouivr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=