Aloe
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Wildflowers and SceneryEvery week we try to get out locally and go hiking and see what wildflowers are blooming. It hasn't rained much this year so there won't be a big display, but there is always something. Undependable rainfall is part of this climate so the plants are suited to it.
I'll keep adding to this thread until the weather gets hot and we don't go out anymore.
The following pictures were all taken in the Santa Monica Mountains. Please click on the image. The thumbnails don't do most of them justice.
Ceanothus megacarpus
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Even more ceanothus - It has been a good year for ceanothus.
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Zuma Canyon Creek
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liveforevers
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chocolate lily (Elena wants one. I know.  )
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shooting stars
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Indian paintbrush
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purple nightshade
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Nicholas Flat
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blue-eyed grass
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ground-pink
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oak woodland
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fiddleneck
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Aloe
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The blue-flowered shrubs are Ceanothus spinosus.
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fuchsia-flowering gooseberry
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California peony
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yellow violet
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prickly phlox
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scenery
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God's Warrior
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Awesome pictures, Aloe! Yep, that is one pretty lily!
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Aloe
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Chocolate lily sounds like something you might find in your Easter basket. Chocolate bunnies are the most popular, of course, and I have seen chocolate crosses, but I don't think I've ever seen a chocolate lily.
Giant coreopsis
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wishbone bush
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sticky monkey flower
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crimson pitcher sage
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chinese houses - These are supposed to have multiple whorls of flowers like a pagoda but this has been a dry year so we only get one partial whorl.
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canyon sunflower
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Aloe
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owl's clover
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tidy tips
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arroyo lupine
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Catalina mariposa lily
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God's Warrior
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Beautiful! That sticky monkey flower looks just like a lily.
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smokey the dog
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a couple days ago I went out looking for signs of spring. I couldn't find a single wildflower. No bloodroot, nor trout lillys nor trilliums. 
Our forsythia is blossoming however.
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Aloe
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Some more pictures from back in April.
Blue larkspur
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Fiesta flower
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Encelia
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Popcorn flower
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California green hairstreak on deerweed
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Star lily
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Scullcap
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Indian warrior
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Ceanothus spinosus
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Mountain lion footprint!
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God's Warrior
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Beautiful pictures as always, Aloe.
Can you tell if these are larkspurs or do I need to take a closer shot of the bloom? They are growing in my garden from the seeds of a volunteer plant a couple of years ago. I would like to know what the are. If I can remember to do it, I will try to get a closeup of the blooms tomorrow.
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Aloe
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They look like larkspurs to me. I have what are probably the same thing.
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God's Warrior
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They are making a pretty showing in several places in my cottage garden and really fill in the dull spots nicely. I love it when nature does the planting.
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Aloe
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Mine started coming up on their own and self-sow. There used to be pink and double purple ones, also, but single blue ones are all that remain now. They are gradually dwindling in number because their favorite spot is being taken over by the lemon tree. I've tried to spread them around but they haven't taken anywere else.
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God's Warrior
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My shasta daisies spread themselves gradually out of the beds and had to be dug up from the path and put back where they belong. Sometimes it almost seems like some plants have minds of their own and move themselves no matter where you put them. My Johnny jump ups do that too. They are no where close to where they started several years ago. 
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Aloe
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My annuals really like growing in the cracks and gaps in the sidewalk. 
Back to the wildflowers - some more from April
Collarless California poppy
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Parry's phacelia
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Yellow monkeyflower
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Chaparral virgin's bower (a clematis)
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Aloe
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May pictures - Though this has been a poor rainfall year, there is still a decent amount of flowers. They are well-designed for this climate.
Foothill penstemon
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California buckwheat
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Golden yarrow
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Winecup clarkia
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California poppies - The local native form is smaller and more yellow than the "garden variety".
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Aloe
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encelia with a chacedon checkerspot
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sticky phacelia
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Turkish rugging
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woolly bluecurls
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canchalagua
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sapphire wool star
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our Lord's candle (a yucca)
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Aloe
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Indian pink
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farewell-to-spring
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lance-leaved liveforever
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Aloe
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Some scenery Would you believe that we've only had 3.2 inches of rain in the past year? 
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smokey the dog
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Well the grass is up to Smokey's belly here. We've had plenty of rain lately.
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God's Warrior
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Smokey is a lucky dog. We haven't had nearly enough rain but at least we have had more than you have, Aloe. It amazes me that anything can still be alive in your area but your scenes and plant pictures are just beautiful
We got some rain today that helped settle the dust. It at least helped clear the air a bit. I regret that I have planted so many plants that need water in the past. I should have gone for mostly native plants that could manage if it got dry. Live and learn....and spend a lot of time watering...huh?
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Aloe
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Globe lily
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Checker bloom
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Elegant clarkia
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California wild rose
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God's Warrior
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Lovely! I especially like the wild rose.
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Aloe
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Wildflower season is rapidly coming to a close, but I have a few more pictures. It's also getting too hot to go hiking, so these may be the last for a while. Remember that summer, not winter, is the harsh season here.
Here is a red, white, and blue entry just in time for the Fourth.
Hollyleaf redberry
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Laurel sumac
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Mexican elderberry
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Indian milkweed
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God's Warrior
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A great 4th of July photo!
Is that elderberry edible? That is really a berry filled plant! It is hard to imagine it growing wild.
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Aloe
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They are edible and pretty good. In the past, I have made pie from them. I was surprised to see so many berries in such a dry year. Some plants are not producing fruits/seeds this year. It doesn't look like there will be any acorns, which won't be good for the wildlife.
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Aloe
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I was surprised to see a few more things out there.
This is bush mallow. It really is a bush, that is just one branch hanging over the grass in this picture.
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This is datura. It is native. I think they're very coarse plants but the flowers are showy.
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These are walnuts. This is a California black walnut. The nuts and the trees are smaller than eastern black walnuts.
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Here is another elderberry. It is in a parking lot and has been "groomed" a little. You can see that they almost reach tree status. There were a lot of fruitful elderberry bushes at this park.
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If my camera batteries hadn't gone dead, I'd have some pictures of old oaks and sycamores, but maybe next time. Here is one trail picture. This is a nice place to go in the summer. It is near the beach, so it isn't hot like inland where I live, the trail is pretty flat, and there is some shade. Technically, this is a road, not a trail, but only park rangers are allowed to drive on it. It's pretty popular with mountain bikers and we saw a track team out practicing. We also saw a deer and a flock of parrots.
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God's Warrior
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It would be rather difficult picking elderberries up in that "bush". That is amazing to me that that they can grow into trees.
I love that road. It looks like roads I remember from my childhood when I visited my grandmother way out in the country.
A flock of parrots!!!!!! Wow! I had no idea that there were any wild parrots in this country. I have really learned something today. Do you know how that they happen to be wild? Did someone turn some loose or did it happen over time from birds getting loose from their cages Explain please as I am quite curious about this!
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Aloe
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No one seems to know for certain exactly how the parrots got here, but it appears most likely that they are escaped pets. According to what I have read, there hasn't been much study done on wild parrots in California. They ones that we saw probably nest in the sycamore trees.
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God's Warrior
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That is so interesting. I bet there are wild parakeets too since they escape so easily from stores and from people's homes. I see them here from time to time with the sparrow flocks and figure that our cold winters kill them. It probably wouldn't do that in your area however.
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Aloe
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Around our house, I have seen parrots, parakeets, a cockatoo, and a zebra finch. From what I have read, only the parrots survive for any length of time and reproduce. I have seen the cockatoo for a period of a year or so. It would hang out with a flock of crows. The crows tended to harrass it, so I don't know what the cockatoo was getting out of the relationship. Last fall, the zebra finch was hanging around our house. I don't know if he moved on or if the cold weather did him in.
There are wild parrots in southern California, Florida, and also Chicago, of all places. There used to be native parrots in the mountains of southern Arizona.
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Aloe
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Coast live oaks
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It may not be apparent from the picture, but this one is huge.
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Western sycamore
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Scarlet monkeyflower
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Aloe
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Most of the time, it has been too hot for hiking but we did go out last Saturday. I've got a few pictures.
It is always dried up like this at this time of year.
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valley oak acorns
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coast live oak acorns
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The small holes all over this tree where drilled by acorn woodpeckers. They use them to store acorns.
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Aloe
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More pictures from last fall
This is an English walnut tree now growing wild. Obviously, there used to be a house here somewhere.
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Hummingbird nest
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Mule deer tracks
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Pond - The tracks in the mud are all from deer.
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Aloe
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The beach
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Sea anemones
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Starfish
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Fossils
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Aloe
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Rugged country
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Old road grader
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Gate to where there used to be ranch buildings
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Looking back toward the ranch
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Aloe
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Dry creek bed - The trees with white bark are California sycamores.
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A house built in the 1920s or '30s.
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Another view of the house - It is now used as an office by a conservation organization. The tree on the right with the button balls hanging on it is a California sycamore.
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Cactus and succulent garden near the house
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texaspampas
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Plant and Garden PhotosAloe, you could sign up as a photographer for a nature magazine! They are simply beautiful!
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Aloe
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Thank you
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