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IN THE FIELD: Corte Madera Mountain

By Tom Oberbauer

Back in January of 1978, I hiked up onto Corte Madera Mountain with a friend, Tom Scott (now with UC Berkeley and UC Riverside), who had been studying Golden Eagles in San Diego County. Bald Eagles were wintering at Corte Madera Lake. After postponing the hike due to rain, that was a good rain season, we drove out to Corte Madera Lake, which was accessible because Tom Scott had a key, and we hiked up the north side of Corte Madera Mountain on a little used trail. The trail climbed through a woodland of mostly coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), but also Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri), as well as Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi). It was foggy going up and the view was obscured.

IN THE FIELD: Corte Madera Mountain
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In The Field: The New Santa Fe Valley Trail

By Jürgen Schrenk

Recently, the new Santa Fe Valley Trail, connecting the San Dieguito River Park’s Del Dios Gorge Trail with the Lusardi Creek Preserve, was opened to the public. The beginning of the trail took us through fields of Menzies’ Goldenbush (Isocoma menziesii var. menziesii).

In The Field: The New Santa Fe Valley Trail
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The Desert a Month after Monsoonal Rains

By Jürgen Schrenk

After yet another week of waiting for the temps to go down watching our Monarch production and limiting our walks to local parks, I was worried that I might completely miss the monsoonal “spring” in the desert. So, I went on a quick drive along S-2

The Desert a Month after Monsoonal Rains
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CNPS-SD Helps With Rare Plant Surveys

By Justin Daniel, Vice President, Rare Plants Co-chair

With vaccinations allowing more contact outdoors and a workload a year behind, it's been a busy time a few of us to help some of our fantastic environmental conservancy organizations around San Diego County by assisting them in their rare plant surveys. The following are glimpses into some of the recent surveys. Come along for the ride and reach out to support our partners, too!

CNPS-SD Helps With Rare Plant Surveys
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The Mount Laguna Surprise

By Tom Oberbauer

…The next week, I drove up and hiked to the location I visited in December and sure enough, the display of Platystemon californica (above) was pretty amazing. Sheets of color extended across the slopes leading into the center of the meadow. I spent some time attempting to photograph and create video of the breeze gently shaking the small flowers. From this location, the view of the meadow ranges across its full length, extending more than three miles in the distance to the south. Laguna Lake also contained a good level of water reflecting the blue sky, apparently left over from the previous two good rainfall seasons. I attempted to capture the view of the flowers with the lake and end of the meadow in the distance. The breeze and the movement of the flowers in this manner always reminds me of when I was a child and my family visited Estes Park in Colorado and we observed alpine wildflowers…

The Mount Laguna Surprise

floral arrangements

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“Cut & Go” Floral and Plant Arrangements Using San Diego Native Vegetation

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Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman’

By Caroline Harrod, CNPS member and volunteer with Mt. Helix Park’s Habitat Restoration Team

Follow Caroline at her YouTube Channel, Growing San Diego

TO SEE MORE FLORAL BOUQUETS & DISCOVER SEASONAL NATIVE PLANT SUGGESTIONS VISIT THIS COMPANION ARTICLE: California Natives for Flower Bouquets by Season by Christine Hoey

Need to brighten anyone’s day or make a friend? It’s always easy to do with a bunch of fresh flowers! You might be thinking, why would I not use the more common term bouquet? According to MerriamWebster.com, bouquet is just the French word for bunch. On a side note, my husband calls floral arranging “fiddling with flowers.”

To keep floral and plant arranging fun, let’s use the “cut & go”method. Everyone is busy these days, so make this event as effortless as possible and just have fun with the process. Keep yourself moving and creating to complete your task, and to ward off over-thinking. Following are three things to consider:

How to begin

  • Walk the yard and select what catches your eye.

  • Cut in the morning.

  • Cut with a sharp tool.

  • Place cuttings in water immediately (consider taking a

    pail of water with you).

  • Select a decorative container for your arrangement,

    such as a vase, mason jar, pickle jar, beer bottle, pitcher, bucket, drinking glass, etc.

Things to consider when choosing your cuttings

  • What evergreen cuttings from bushes or trees would fill out the arrangement?

  • What colorful long-stemmed flowers, berries, fruits, or dried foliage do you want to showcase?

  • What is thriving in your yard and will last a few days or a week in an arrangement?

  • What do you want your arrangement to accomplish?

  • What container are you going to place the foliage in?

How to make an arrangement or floral design in less than 5 minutes

  • Well....it always takes a bit longer, but can beaccomplished! Just have fun!

  • Is the arrangement going to be placed inside or outside? Cut long stems and think big for the outside; inside has lots of sizes to choose from, so keep your arrangement in proportion to the space you want to fill.

  • Cut the branch or stem on a slant; the plant will absorb water better that way.

  • Start at the center and work outward from your container. Just make it as quickly as you can—there are no mistakes!

  • From ikebana to the grocery store bouquet, there are all sorts of styles and recommended ways to design—I prefer the bunch from a child’s hand.

Photo, flower bouquet and artwork by Caroline Harrod