There is a good chance that you have never heard of the Santa Monica Mountains. However, there is a good chance that you have seen them masquerading as Korea, Wales, Colorado, the South Pacific, "Olde" England, or even another planet. This is Hollywood's back yard and countless productions have been filmed here. The movie history is fun, but let's meet the Santa Monica Mountains as what they really are, a small mountain range on the Pacific coast.
Thank you. It sound corny, but the flowers are precious little gems. I'm glad that someone saw fit to set aside public land. Sure, it's not Yosemite, but every place has worth.
We live on town, so as for the fires, I've never had any more than a mile or two from my house so we've never had to do anything special here, but I think some people do hose down their roofs. The smell of the smoke can be annoying outside, but since I don't have asthma, I don't need to do anything special. The smell usually doesn't get into the house. The weird thing is when little charred chaparral plant leaves drift into the yard - perfect little replicas of the live leaf. We live miles from the chaparral, so that stuff really travels. You know what a cold fireplace smells like after you've had a fire in it? That's what the smoke smells like. Kinda gross. Just to be on the safe side, though, when it comes time to put a new roof on the house, I'd like to use composite or metal. (Tile is too heavy for this house as it was built.) I can always tell when there is a fire in the area (within ~70 miles), because the lighting looks yellow.
Name: Marilyn (Mau) Piche' South-central Missouri-in the Zone 6b
Another great article, Kelli! I have learned so much from reading your articles and seeing your photographs of the beautiful wildflowers these last 2 1/2 years since I joined DG and now here on Cubits. I never knew there could be so many different flowers in your area!
Thanks for sharing your hiking "adventures" with us!
Thanks for the beautiful photos, Kelli. You helped me ID another volunteer by our pond - pretty sure it's the bush poppy, but I'll have to wait until it blooms again. Add that to the P. spectabilis, the mimulus, and the lotus scoparius that have moved in via wind or bird, we're pleased. Love the surprises as long as they are not Russian thistle! Can you imagine, I kept an eye on that Penstemon for months as it grew and decided it looked like a keeper, not a weed. I am SO glad I did!
I know! I never expected to have good things pop up on their own, so now I look at everything very closely before I pull it! We also have a pine tree growing from some tree trimming mulch. We're hoping it's a good one. :-)
No fire, heaven forbid, they just popped up. We 'settled' this plot six years ago and we've just been fighting weeds ever since, while planting as much as we could. We certainly don't have magic soil! It was cut and compacted a lot and there are still spots where nothing will grow. Funny thing, the mimulus, penstemon, and lotus scoparius are all growing in a strip that is the most difficult, but on the edge where drainage is better, so I think that's why they survived. We'll take what we can get, as long as they're natives and don't make me sneeze!
Wonderful article Kelli and fabby pics. I picniced there many moons ago. I grow the little Phacelia campanularia in my garden because it reminds of great parks and recreation areas in CA. Thanks.
Kelli, I really enjoyed your article. I spent a lot of time hiking those mountains when I was a child growing up. I left CA in the mid 60's, at times I miss parts of the state, like the Santa Monica Mountains.
Thank you for writing the article and bringing back wonderful memories.
This forum is for posting pictures and/or telling stories about your day hikes. What is a day hike? For the purpose of this forum, I define it as a hike or long walk on trails or roads that are primarly for transport by something other than motor vehicles
Members are encouraged to post pictures or tell stories from hikes all over the world. Please start a new thread for each hike unless you are making comments to someone else's story. Note that the forums are organized into different subjects. Try to put your thread into the correct one.
Here are the rules
1. BE NICE
2. Keep the language G-rated
3. No political debates
4. No advertising
5. No posting links to offensive, non-hiking related websites
Remember, I am dictator of this little universe and will keep you out if you don't abide by the rules. If you want to discuss things that I forbid, you can start your own Cubit. And I mean that in a nice way.
I'll take my chances with the lions and poison oak - the snakes, not so much.
Did you have a fire where the native plants have come up, or did they just come up?
