Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Mount Diablo is Reaching it's Wildflower Peak Now!
Try to get there if you live anywhere near the Bay Area - it will be worth it!
I was amazed to find so many beautiful wildflowers there last saturday. The Ptelea crenulata - Hoptrees are loaded w/ beautiful bloom - really stunning small trees! the air around them was swarming w/ all kinds of insects - from flies to wasps to beetles, to bees all swarming around the sweet fragrance like cloves, cinanamon and cumin.
I found a small group of silver bush lupines w/ the most amazing colors of blooms I've ever seen. it seemed like the flowers had all turned from first white, then pink, to purple and finally to a rich caerulean blue after pollination on their tall spikes.
I also found a huge patch of gorgeous Asclepias californica - California Milkweed in full bloom, loads and loads of Chapparal Clematis, and I got to watch some native metallic bees headbutting over cobweb thistles [right after reading that wonderful article in the latest Baynature Magazine].
Even the Canyon Live Oaks and Interior Live Oaks were loaded down w/ colorful fringes of flowers. Those two trees grow together and can be difficult to tell apart on top of Mount Diablo, but when they are flowering, there's an easy way. The Canyon Live Oaks [supposedly a dwarf variety on top] have bright yellow and chartreuse flowers, while the Interior Live Oaks have red or russet-colored flowers. You can see some photos of many of the flowers I saw that day here: http://tinyurl.com/r5jgz3
I was amazed to find so many beautiful wildflowers there last saturday. The Ptelea crenulata - Hoptrees are loaded w/ beautiful bloom - really stunning small trees! the air around them was swarming w/ all kinds of insects - from flies to wasps to beetles, to bees all swarming around the sweet fragrance like cloves, cinanamon and cumin.
I found a small group of silver bush lupines w/ the most amazing colors of blooms I've ever seen. it seemed like the flowers had all turned from first white, then pink, to purple and finally to a rich caerulean blue after pollination on their tall spikes.
I also found a huge patch of gorgeous Asclepias californica - California Milkweed in full bloom, loads and loads of Chapparal Clematis, and I got to watch some native metallic bees headbutting over cobweb thistles [right after reading that wonderful article in the latest Baynature Magazine].
Even the Canyon Live Oaks and Interior Live Oaks were loaded down w/ colorful fringes of flowers. Those two trees grow together and can be difficult to tell apart on top of Mount Diablo, but when they are flowering, there's an easy way. The Canyon Live Oaks [supposedly a dwarf variety on top] have bright yellow and chartreuse flowers, while the Interior Live Oaks have red or russet-colored flowers. You can see some photos of many of the flowers I saw that day here: http://tinyurl.com/r5jgz3
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