An Elfin Forest

Highway 1 from Los Angeles to Monterey offers breathtaking seaside vistas.  On a recent trip I discovered  El Moro Elfin Forest Natural Area, hidden behind residential streets in Los Osos, on the south end of Morro Bay.  Native plants in the wild!

Can you see Morro Rock?
10-foot wide Black Sage (Salvia mellifera) with Morro Bay in the hazy background.
Click once on the photos to expand.

"Elfin forest" is area of coastal sage scrub or chaparral that has grown six feet tall or more.  As you walk through it, you feel like a giant whose head reaches the treetops.  El Moro is unique in also having Coast Live Oaks, dwarfed by the sandy soil and ocean winds to 6 to 12 feet tall, despite being hundreds of years old.  

Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia), grove of dwarfs, about 12 feet tall.
Note the white bark.

Native forest bling: moss on fallen logs.

El Moro also has the more typical Elfin Forest "trees": coastal sage scrub and chaparral plants that we normally think of as bushes.  Elfin forest must be undisturbed by grazing and clearing for many years; it is easily destroyed.

Hummingbirds always choose the highest spot, in this case the top of an 8-ft Ceanothus.

Bees love California Lilacs (Ceanothus species– maybe cuneatus)

A few typical forest dwellers can be found in the deeper patches.

Fuchsia-flowering Gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) growing under the oaks. 
This jewel loses all its leaves in summer.

The threatened Morro Manzanita, among other plants, has been hit hard by the drought. While I saw plenty of new growth, some older "trees" are mostly or completely dead. 

New growth on Morro Manzanita (Arctostaphylos morroensis)

California Sagebrush (Artemisia californica) seems to have more handsome flower stalks so near the coast than it does on hilltops (or, unfortunately, in my garden– a problem I am overcoming by planting it in shade.)  Different varieties?  Or just different growing conditions?

CA Sagebrush retains last fall's flower stalks

The dudleya that grows at El Moro is particularly elegant, I think.

Dudleya (lanceolata and caespitosa hybrid?)

My thanks to the dedicated folks at the Los Osos / Morro Bay Chapter of Small Wilderness Area Preservation (SWAP).  After being the prime mover in securing the 90 acre area, they "adopted" the Forest in 1994. The Chapter continues to remove invasive plants, provide erosion control, and conduct plant revegetation projects through its Conservation Committee and "Weed Warriors."  Wonderful pockets of nature near residential areas can't exist without the help of caring people.

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