If you missed the Death Valley “super bloom”, don’t worry, many other areas in the state bloom next. Along California’s Central Coast, Figueroa Mountain can be a great place to see wildflowers in April. Figueroa Mountain Recreation Area is located north of Santa Barbara, above the Santa Ynez Valley and the town of Los Olivos. Helen Tarbet of the Los Padres National Forest sent out her first Figueroa Mountain wildflower update of 2016 to email subscribers on March 22, which she has graciously given me permission to include below. If you want to receive her future updates, contact her at the email address at the end of her report. I’m including photos from my past visits to illustrate some of the wildflowers you might see.
Greetings and happy spring! Welcome to the 2016 wildflower season! Unlike the past few drought stricken years, the wildflowers started blooming later, which is normal for them on a year where they have received sufficient rain. Once they started blooming, they are certainly going strong. Let’s start our update, shall we?
Other wildflowers to look for as you continue your uphill climb include, buttercups, goldfields, coreopsis, shooting stars, ceanothus, California poppies, Mexican elderberry, blue dicks, fillaree, royal lupine, lomatium, fiddlenecks, beautiful pink prickly phlox on the serpentine rock formation on the right and lovely orange wall flowers just beyond that. Also, you will see strikingly beautiful Catalina mariposa lilies in the open grassy fields and wild canyon peas in some shaded areas.
In the field to the right, before Tunnell Ranch Road, look for shooting stars, bush lupine, sky lupine, buttercups, lomatium, blue dicks, and lovely wallflowers.
Just as you pass the gate going up to Ranger Peak, look to your right and see whimsical baby blue eyes peeking through the lush green grass. From Ranger Peak to Cachuma Saddle, bush poppies and bush lupine are splendidly abundant. Other flowers to look for within this stretch include, California poppies, phacaelia, red Indian paintbrush, sticky leaf monkey flowers, purple nightshade, ceanothus, fiddleneck, golden yarrow, clematis, globe gillias, wild canyon peas, wild cucumber and Mexican elderberry. Approximately halfway through this stretch, on the far right, notice a very impressive hillside carpeted in beautiful California poppies.
Happy Canyon is also beautiful. As one turns onto Happy Canyon, look for yellow California poppies, purple nightshade, wild canyon peas, golden yarrow, clematis, wild cucumber, bush poppies, royal lupine, blue dicks, vetch, morning glories, bush lupine, fiesta flowers, prickly phlox, blue dicks, fiddleneck, bush poppies, coreopsis and charming Catalina mariposa lilies. Continuing down the hill, prickly phlox, lomatium, mustard, cactus flowers, morning glories, Mexican elderberry, Johnny jump-ups, popcorn flowers and fillaree can also be seen along with some royal lupine, bush lupine and bush poppies.
That’s all for this update. Look for our next wildflower update in two weeks. Until then, happy viewing! For more information, please contact Helen Tarbet by e-mail at htarbet@fs.fed.us.
Directions
Here’s my description of Figueroa Mountain Road Recreation Area on page 218 of my “Photographing California – South” guidebook, illustrated with a few extra photos:
Home to an annual wildflower bloom each spring, Figueroa Mountain provides a variety of species at various elevations, diversifying your opportunities and extending the wildflower season. The U.S. Forest Service often provides updates on the timing and progress of the wildflowers as they emerge in the February through April time frame, so if you have the opportunity, check their Web site for current conditions.
This is a narrow mountain road and your drive on it may take you 15 miles or more and increase in elevation 3000 feet. It is not recommended for large vehicles or trailers.
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Very cool! Thanks for the directions : )
Va många fina bilder där. 👍👍👍
Wunderschöne Naturaufnahmen 😀👍🌼🌻🌵🌳🌲🌿🌸🌺🌈⛅🌞
Beautiful!! Thank you for sharing this album. I haven't been able to get out much, to go exploring.
+Shirlee Severs I was able to get permission to post the full wildflower report, so I made an expanded post with more photos:
http://www.jeffsullivanphotography.com/blog/2016/04/01/figueroa-mountain-wildflowers-are-blooming-now/
Also blooming now not far from there is Carrizo Plain National Monument. From there, wildflowers could be visited at Gorman, the California Poppy Preserve in Antelope Valley, then the Ridgecrest area, where wildflowers are blooming from Inyokern (Short Canyon) all the way up past Owens Lake, and in the Alabama Hills by Lone Pine as well. I'll probably visit much of that this week.
Thank you, Jeff.
We got turned away b/c of the large # of cars on Sunday, but your photos helped me to see what beauty I missed. Thank heavens for photographers!
No photos of Shooting Stars.