News Index

Occasional notes on the wildflowers of 91011 Parents should always think carefully about the names they bestow on their children, lest those names become inadvertently off-putting to others! So it would seem in the case of Fremont’s Star-Lily (Toxicoscordion fremontii), also known by the decidedly off-putting name of Death Camas. Is it toxic to eat? … Read more »

Occasional notes on the wildflowers of 91011 Many of the native wildflowers at Cherry Canyon are actually flowering shrubs. One of the prettiest is also one of the easiest to identify — Golden Currant (Ribes aureum), which truly lives up to its name when it’s richly covered with small golden blossoms. Sometimes the blossoms are … Read more »

Occasional notes on the wildflowers of 91011 Lilacs are one of the world’s most beloved garden flowers, prized for their fragrance. But true lilacs require a cold winter to flourish, and that rules out much of Southern California. Once again, though, the yearning of Angelinos for fragrant clusters of white-to-blue-to-purple blossoms has been met by … Read more »

Occasional notes on the wildflowers of 91011 Some of our native plants get no respect. In the case of Chilicothe, it’s a matter of mistaken identity. Marah macrocarpa is a native vine that loves to curlicue across the meadow or, better yet, twine its way up anything handy — a tree, a shrub, a fence, … Read more »

occasional notes on the wildflowers of 91011 It starts as a spray or splash of heavily lobed leaves. It then develops into a modest, inverted, cup-shaped flower. Its insides are absurdly packed with yellow stamens. Its petals shade from red or very dark red down to almost black at their bases. These shadowy flowers usually … Read more »

occasional notes on the wildflowers of 91011 One of the pleasures of living in a moist climate is the ability to grow fuchsias outside. Fuchsias are a mostly South American plant. They thrive in cultivation in moderate northern climes, but not here. Yet if the San Gabriel Valley is too hot and dry to make … Read more »

occasional notes on the wildflowers of 91011 Some of the very best wildflowers to be seen along the trails of La Cañada Flintridge are found all over Cherry Canyon — a name that ought to raise the question of whether we can ever find cherry blossoms there. In fact, we can! But they’re not quite … Read more »