Annette noticed that these two cliff-aster-y looking plants were joined by a runner, the way strawberry or spider plants propagate. (A bit of googling led me to the botanical name for this joining structure: it’s called a stolon). I’ve seen a lot of cliff asters and other related Asteraceae but have never observed this growth habit. I don’t have a positive ID on the plant, but I’ll certainly be looking for other examples while I’m out on the trails.
Toyons are fruiting abundantly all over our mountains (and in our yard), providing food for many birds and mammals. The tree depends on animals for seed dispersal, and our first winter rains are forecast this week. The seeds that are eaten and “planted” earliest in the wet season will have the longest time to establish themselves before the long hot dry season arrives. Eat up and poop, critters!
Only two pages left in the Perpetual Journal before I flip back to the beginning and start adding to the spreads. I’m pleased that I’ve managed to keep up the practice for (nearly) a full year, and am excited to see the pages fill out in the coming years.
I hiked up to Parker Mesa Overlook from Los Liones yesterday. I‘ve only been to the overlook once before, on Nov 9, 1997 (according to my hiking book). My friend David and I did a sunset/night hike that evening, and we saw a rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force (now “Space Force”) base. We actually didn’t know wtf we were seeing, but we read about it next day in the news. It looked like a massive translucent zeppelin. Amazing sight!
Delairea odorata is a perennial vine (family Asteraceae) native to South Africa. It is problematic in some of our coastal riparian areas, moist forests, and oak woodlands. The vines form dense mats of vegetation over trees and shrubs, killing plants underneath. It is toxic to animals and fish can be killed when plant materials are soaking in waterways. Unfortunately, it’s completely taken over Los Liones Canyon within Topanga State Park.
This week in the PerpJo. Rhus ovata, commonly known as sugar bush or sugar sumac, is a shrub or small tree found growing in the canyons and slopes of the chaparral and related ecosystems in Southern California, Arizona, Baja California and Baja California Sur. It is a long lived-plant, up to 100 years, and has dense evergreen foliage. It is closely related to and hybridizes with lemonadeberry, which grows at our place. It’s in the cashew family!
Some more additions for our Park-specific field guide to use on school walks.
I’ve been working on this one-pager to use on our school walks — a limited field guide to the plants the kids might see year-round in the most accessible areas. It might have to expand to two pages; I have thought of more things to add!
Our variegated rubber trees have been put in the naughty corner.
Though I still like to start with a recipe, I’ve definitely become a more freewheeling cook over the years. Current herbs in the garden: mint, tarragon, chives, basil, sage, thyme, oregano and rosemary. Most used: basil, thyme and oregano.
Some people find taking hallucinogens fun, but I’m not one of them. However, I did enjoy a trip down memory lane, back to that day when we ditched high school and went down to the river to skinny dip, and there was lots of datura growing on the sandy banks …
Ashyleaf buckwheat is one of my favourite chaparral plants, and I love that it grows natively here on our block. Also known as coastal buckwheat, it is endemic to the coastline of Southern California, primarily within Los Angeles County and Ventura County.
Eriogonum cinereum can reach from 0.6–1.25 m in height and width. Its foliage is a lovely pale turquoise/silvery grey colour. The leaves are wavy-edged and one to three centimeters long. The inflorescences stick out from the plant, each with several flower cluster heads of tiny tightly-packed frilly flowers which are usually pale pink in colour. It is the food plant for Euphilotes bernardino, the Bernardino dotted blue butterfly.
hashiworks 