I've been jealously viewing everyone's gorgeous photos of the wildflowers blooming on their respective blogs, so naturally I had to take a day trip to Sonoma and see a few for myself (tough life, huh?).
Soon enough, I happened upon a serpentine meadow in the hills above town. I'm guessing it's serpentine because the soil is quite rocky, there aren't any shrubs, the plants look stunted in growth and it's in an area that I would consider chaparral (or my trusty friends at Las Pilitas would, anyway). Serpentine soils pervade California and are characterized by their lack of minerals that plants typically require to survive. Unless, of course you're a California wildflower adapted to grow there! The photo at the top shows a gaggle of happy Lasthenia californica, or Goldfields. Usually these can be spotted from the road as a low sea of sunshine.
The Lupine made a strong showing, as the small Bumblebees looped from flower to flower in this small meadow.
Gorgeous! Not to mention you also found blue sky. Maybe we'll see more of that tomorrow. Our poppies are a little too sparse, thank you Mr. Gopher, and the lupine. Well, I seem to be cursed on the lupine front. 56 scarified seeds were sown in a flat as an experiment...I have 2 plants (about the same germination rate for the ones I direct seeded outside). BUT I have some plants at least. Question is, can I get them to bloom and look as pretty as these!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you got to go! I was itching for another wildflower hike last weekend, but between garden prep and the rain it did not happen. So, great to see some photos!
ReplyDeleteOh Clare, don't even get me started on trying to start Lupines! The few that sprouted, the snails and birds ate. I've got one left still in its gallon pot. I'm almost too scared to plant it! Good luck on yours!
ReplyDeleteHi TM, I'm so glad you inspired me to get out! Hopefully you'll have some free weekends after the show.