“It’s a little odd this year,” said Cindy Roessler, senior resource manager for the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District. “It’s been cold and dry in the coastal mountain range. It’s not a great bloom, and it’s greatly condensed. The stuff that blooms early are still going and the stuff that blooms later are starting to bloom. There’s more variety in a short period of time.”
In the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve, where conditions are shadier and cooler, many of the plants bloom earlier in the season. But, it’s not too late to see blooms of both sweet and giant trillium, soap plant, star lily, checkerbloom, hound’s tongue, checker lily and Indian warrior, Roessler said. Just follow the Purisima Creek Trail that runs along the creek.
 Iris bloom on the bluffs above Ross's Cove. |
Russian Ridge is unique because of the controlled burn the MROSD conducted in July. There’s a clear demarcation in the vegetation on the hillside. In the previously burned area, the land is green with a greater diversity of wildflowers, while the other areas are brown with drying, non-native grasses and fewer wildflowers.
“Biologically, the proscribed burn creates a great condition for native plants,” Roessler said. “With the thatch burned away, more sunlight and water can get down to the soil where the seeds are waiting.”
Although it’s more about quality and not quantity this year, the condensed season serves to remind people that things are adjusting to the weather. Roessler is not certain how animals are responding to a colder, drier spring. Insects are experiencing the same temperature and moisture conditions that influence seed germination and blooming, but just how they affect the population, food, predators and migration make for an intriguing question.
“It’s not a fabulous year,” Roessler said. “But, it’s a reminder that plants and animals adjust to weather and climate.
“More people are becoming aware of the climate,” she said. “They see things that occur over a short period and project into the future. I’m glad to see people becoming more aware of their environment and wondering about the future.”
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