Blog

Manzanita Apples making me stop and smell the chaparral at Fort Ord Nat'l Monument. Marina, CA I was on a wander when a bee, on a wander of her own, led me to the flowers of a Manzanita perfectly lit by the sun.  Despite us not even being out of January, some of its flowers were already turning to fruit! As the little manzanita apples shone in the sun it I stood back and appreciated the unique beauty of the environment I was surrounded by - The Chaparral.  An environment th

I was out on a hike through the redwoods on a recent rainy day and decided to take a moment to sit on a mossy log and enjoy the sights and sounds of the raindrops filling the surrounding puddles when I was rewarded with the additional delight of my first Fetid Adder’s Tongue, or Scoliopus bigelovii , sighting of the year.  One of the winter gems of the redwoods, this flower - along with the milkmaid and hounds tongue - is a mark of the rainy season settling in and a reminder

We’ve finally gotten some good precipitation here in Northern California, and with it all the wonders of the rainy season are beginning to emerge. One of my favorite delights of the rainy season is seeing the reappearance of another type of critters that has been hiding out beneath the forest duff through the dry season - The Newts! In California overall we have 4 species of Newt all of which are in the genus Taricha. Here in the Santa Cruz mountains we have the California Ne

Flowers of a Lupine Bush along the coast of California Dec 5 2025 One thing I did not expect to find when I set out on this early December afternoon was a patch of beautiful Lupine in bloom. These flowers typically bloom beginning at the peak of spring and lasting into the early summer.   Lupine Bush In Bloom Today, however, Garrapata State Park along the Central California Coast was boasting some beautiful blooms!  It seems the rains a couple weeks ago along with the warm we

As most of us begin to prepare to dig out our ornaments to decorate our Yule trees for the coming winter season, the California Buckeye (or Aesculus californica)  donned its seasonal ornaments a few weeks ago as their bulb-shaped nuts began to dangle from its branches.   Late summer into early fall the buckeye begins to stand in stark contrast to the evergreen oaks, bay laurel, and Douglas fir that it typically grows amongst as its leaves begin to fall.  The fallen leaves unc

This morning I took to wandering into The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park and trekked down to the edge of Aptos Creek to take in the water burbling past.  Looking up from the creek bed into the primarily-evergreen forest canopy brought streams of sunlit fog and glowing yellow leaves of the Bigleaf Maple, or Acer Macrophyllum,  into vision.  I took to the rocks amid the creek and found a place to sit on one of the larger boulders to sit under one of these deciduous delights

As one wanders the lush coastal mountains of California one thing that can be certain is that you will pass by a wonderful diversity of ferns. While many of these ferns thrive best in the deep damp gulches and along the creek-sides that share the forests cover, a few ferns appreciate a bit of a more dynamic habitat where the cycles of wet to dry can fluctuate within the day - sometimes the hour. One of my favorite fronds of this variety is the Goldback Fern, Pentagramma tri

As the Fall season really begins to set in, I always find myself stopped dead in my tracks at the beauty of the Poison Oak changing color...