Scrophularia californica
Erodium botrys
Lysimachia latifolia
Calystegia purpurata s. purpurata
Lupinus albifrons
NEW
– Lupine – is blooming purple in the full sun up on the ridge.
– Figwort, I love this flower, it’s like nothing else. Find it along the paths in the woods. Foliage is like nettle but with a dark stalk. A friend to insects, it’s a host to butterfly larvae and a strong bee attractant.
– Filaree – this non-native’s small pink flower is blooming all over Kerouac Hill.
– Morning glory’s – white trumpet flower can be seen poking out of the grass in meadows and on Kerouac Hill.
– Star flower – this lovely little pink flower hovers over its bed of leaves. Forest floors where you find Trillium, False Solomon’s seal and Wood rose are where you find Star flower. It’s mostly leaves now but its green carpet will be speckled with pink soon.
Forest Edges
– Coralroot, the red orchid, – starting – is blooming in the leaf litter at the large Indian warrior patch.
– Cowparsnip – starting – in the woods below Amaranth.
– Crimson columbine – starting – below the trail below Amaranth and below the trail at 7a on the map.
– Fringe cup – starting – near the creek below Amaranth, where the Maverick Trail meets Ridgewood and just past the last house on LaVerne.
– Hawthorne, a non-native, – starting – is covered in buds. The first few are blooming on a large tree on the Homestead Trail.
– Douglas Iris – peaking – with white and various shades of purple blooms are popping up all over.
– False Solomon Seal – peaking – is blooming all along the edge of the bay forest along the Homestead Trail. They are exploding with their little white flowers.
– French and Scotch Broom – peaking – are bright with their yellow flowers. These are some of the most aggressive invasives here. Pull it if you can, cut off the flowers so it can’t go to seed. Do whatever you can to combat its advance.
– Manroots or Wild Cucumber – peaking – is a native vine with white flowers that is blooming all over.
– Spring Gold – peaking – I have only found blooming on the Ridgewood rock.
– Woodland star – peaking – is blooming on the Ridgewood Rock. This rock, the location of our next broom clearing effort, is the only place I have seen this flower.
– Wooly lomatium – peaking – on the Ridgewood Rock.
– Purple sanicle – starting – is blooming below Amaranth and is coming elsewhere along the Homestead Trail.
– Woodland strawberry – starting – is blooming at the edge of the forest.
– Barberry – fading – is blooming below Amaranth and on the steep trail above the Indian Warrior.
– Checker Lily – fading. There was a hillside of it blooming below Amaranth between 4a and 9b on the map.
– Chickweed – fading. This non-native plant is from Europe and has a long history in folk medicine.
– Death Camas – fading – is blooming on the 4a to 9b hillside below Amaranth and along the overgrown trail down from 4-Corners. The entire plant is poisonous, hence the name.
– Indian Warrior – fading – is blooming in a large patch on the Homestead Trail at 9j (we cleared this hill of broom last October so the flowers will be on display as never before this spring).
– Milkmaids – fading. This is a member of the mustard/radish family (edible).
– Pacific Hound’s Tongue – fading.
Meadows
– California Blackberry – starting – is blooming all over the Land Trust in sunny places.
– California poppies – starting – are blooming in the full sun. On Kerouac Hill and on the ridge above 4-Corners.
– Mule’s Ears – starting – on Kerouac hill.
– Blue Dicks – peaking – is blooming in big patches above Lattie Ln on the ridge trail and on the 4-Corners side of Homestead Hill, near the Ridgewood bench and on the Ridgewood Rock.
– Buttercups – peaking – are blooming yellow in the meadows.
– Checkerbloom – peaking – is up on the ridge.
– Ground Iris – peaking – with purple blooms are popping up all over.
– Footsteps of spring – peaking – is blooming along the trail up on the ridge.
– Oakland Star Tulip – peaking – is blooming in the meadows of Homestead.
– Rosy sandcrocus, another non-native, – peaking – is blooming on Kerouac Hill.
– Sun cups – peaking – are blooming on the ridge and in sunny meadows.
Wet Places
– Calla lily’s – starting – large white blooms are in the wet places.
– Horsetail’s asparagus-like spears – starting – are emerging creeksides.
– Three cornered leek – starting, the invsive onion, is flowering in boggy places.
– Miner’s lettuce – peaking – with its little white flowers are blooming where it is wet.
Mixed Bay / Oak Forests
– Fairy Bells – starting – will bloom for months. Flower bells hang under the leaves and are usually impossible to see from our vantage, so turn over the leaves and peak underneath.
– Giant trillium – starting – blooming in the woods.
– Hazelnut bushes – starting – are budding out with new growth.
– Mountain Sweet Cicely – starting – can be found blooming in the woods with small white flowers and long seeds. The fresh seed pods are sweet.
– Pacific sanicle – starting – with its rich foliage and unspectacular little yellow flower is along trails through the forest, blooming on the spur trail up to 4-Corners.
– Swordfern – starting, that has been looking all brown with its thrips infestation is coming green again with new growth.
– Thimbleberry – starting – on the Homestead Trail and near the creek below Amaranth.
– Wood rose – peaking – in the woods below the Ridgewood Rock and along the Eagle Trail.
– Bay Laurel trees – fading – are blooming. These trees are everywhere around here. The blooms have a lovely vanilla scent.
– Trilium – fading. There are still a few blooms in shaded places.
Key to map:
I haven’t located Bay, Chickweed, California and Himalayan Blackberry, Manroots, Swordfern, French or Scotch Broom on the map as they are so prolific. Trillium, Pacific Hound’s Tongue, Milkmaids and Iris are also blooming in many more locations than are noted on the map.
Flowers that are finished have been removed from the map and are greyed out in the map key.
Gallery of wildflowers and plants found in Homestead.
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