If you’ve been keeping up with this newsletter/blog/picture parade lately, you may have well realized that I have a penchant for amateurish botany - particularly with regard to Springtime wildflower blooms, and, of course, the desert generally. This iteration combines both in a photographic symphony of last weekend’s finds in the Western edge of the Mojave Desert, that funny little triangle bordered by the Angeles National Forest to the South and the Tehachapi Mountains to the northwest. Upon setting out on a clear, blue-sky day in the mid 70’s Fahrenheit, what could only be considered vitally necessary to indulge in in order to restore the spirit to full capacity, I ventured first back to Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park (a mouthful for a relatively tiny park), a place had first visited in October of last year. Known for being privately donated to the state of California to preserve a rare habitat of western Joshua tree-Juniper woodland, this time I was on a search for the bounty of April in the desert.
That bounty turned out to be relatively sparse, significant especially in light of the tough future this area has forecasted for it. For example, most Joshua trees here exhibit the habit of cloning themselves to produce more trees (yes they are trees to me), a process that in effect sustains the population yet reduces possibilities for genetic diversity by creating offshoots (I counted one grouping with roughly twenty). It is utterly too hot and too dry, inhospitable in short, for sexual reproduction by this keystone and flagship species in its western Mojave range (and some other areas). By simple observation, and without referencing any official measurements, the wildflower reception lent credibility to the idea of less rainfall occurring here, on this patch of land immediately leeward of a mountain range acting as the gateway to the far reaching arid spaces beyond. Worry aside, I was thankfully surprised to find a decent diversity of annuals scattered amongst the larger woody shrubbery, mostly of the small, near to the ground, forb ilk. Photographs of these findings are below.
Onward! After the fairly fruitful reconnaissance at Arthur B. Ripley, I tried out a new spot - Portal Ridge Wildlife Preserve, managed by Transition Habitat Conservancy. It turned out to be a winner, lush with innumerable species of wildflowers that I had to continually stop to identify. There existed a small creek with ample crystal clear water that was cool to the touch, watched over gently by a hillside of Chia. The path leading up to this point was flush with Tickseed, Goldfields, Purple Owl’s Clover, and Miniature Lupine. A vigorous, contained stand of California Poppies further made a confident appearance adjacent to the dirt path. Further along and up a modestly upward sloping trail a grand mixture of Tickseed met with Distant Phacelia, Poppies, Fiddlenecks, Lupines, Pincushions, Baby Blue Eyes, and more! A walk through Portal Ridge was met with near constant astonishment at the array of color so lavishly presented. I only spent a short while here, about an hour, however it was as if time beat stealthily slow, and I hardly noticed its passing (perhaps aided by the accidental leaving of my phone in the middle of the trail after a successful species identification).
On the way back home to Santa Clarita I was expectedly accosted by Lupine along the roadside. I sought these same blooms out on the way in to Arthur B. Ripley and eagerly backtracked to their now known location, sans the crowds at other stops. I was greeted by unanticipated variety once more, with Grape Soda Lupine (found only once previously in a miraculously differing environment - Vincent Gap near Mt. Baden-Powell in the San Gabriel Mountains), Coulter’s Lupine (identified before at Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park in Riverside), Browneyes, Tickseed, Goldfields, and the strange looking Canaigre Dock, all adjacent to a road and barbed-wire fencing with farm fields stretching towards a sea of photovoltaic panels, and, as if nature itself decided to mock humanity’s extractive land usage, perhaps the most productive California Poppy field in a furious blaze of orange in the only patch of land left standing in the immediate vicinity. Gotta love the plaintive, last-ditch plea for perseverance. Maybe the highest use sometimes is no use, eh?
Anyways, bask in the meticulously curated photo collection below:
Bigelow’s Tickseed (Leptosyne bigelovii) out in mesmerizing quantities this year.
Another angle of Bigelow’s Tickseed up close.
Bigelow’s Tickseed and Distant Phacelia (Phacelia distans).
Dorr’s Sage (Salvia dorrii).
A second view of Dorr’s Sage blooming at Arthur B. Ripley.
Bird’s eye Gilia (Gilia tricolor).
Bird’s eye Gilia standing above invasive (nonnative) grasses.
Whitedaisy Tidytips (Layia glandulosa).
Grape Soda Lupine in association with Popcornflower and Tickseed.
Grape Soda Lupine growing roadside in the Antelope Valley.
A zoomed out perspective.
Layered Grape Soda Lupine capturing the evening light.
A shot from above.
Chia, Common Fiddleneck (Amsinckia intermedia), and Coulter’s Lupine (Lupinus sparsiflorus) in association.
Grape Soda Lupine? With yellow flecks in the petals. Somewhat unsure about this identification.
Another bushy cluster of Lupine!
Distant Phacelia mixed with California poppies (Eschscholzia californica).
Common Goldfields (Lasthenia gracilis) in abundance.
Common Goldfields, with scattered Distant Phacelia and California Poppies.
Common Goldfields interspersed with Miniature Lupine (Lupinus bicolor).
Rusted Popcornflower (Plagiobothrys nothofulvus).
Rusted Popcornflower flowering alongside Distant Phacelia in the desert.
Chia (Salvia columbariae) growing near a running creek.
Scattered Chia blooms on a hillside.
Purple Owl’s Clover (Castilleja exserta) interspersed with Common Goldfields.
A close-up of Purple Owl’s Clover jutting out of a field of Common Goldfields.
Browneyes (Chylismia claviformis).
Canaigre Dock (Rumex hymenosepalus).
Western Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) on a gentle slope with a field of Common Goldfields.
Clones of a western Joshua tree bordered with a floor of Goldfields and backed by Juniper.
An insanely productive patch of Poppies meets solar panels in a dramatic clash of landscape values.
Poppies highlighting remaining bare earth pocked with solar panels, the Tehachapi’s looming overhead.
A tangle of barbed wire fencing and woody shrubbery overlooks a farm and wind energy development.
A field of Fiddlenecks and grasses in the foreground, a solar and wind farm bringing up the rear up to the Tehachapi Mountains.
A dry wash bordered by wildflowers, with farmland and renewable energy developments beyond.
Barbed wire framing high-desert farmland near Neenach, CA.
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