Roadside Attractions

Last Saturday my "hike" was along Mission Canyon Road in Santa Barbara.  The Botanical Garden was closed, setting up for the beer party that was sold out.  I snuck in and snapped a few cuties.  I hadn't see Catalina Cherry (Prunus ilicifolia ssp. lyonii I believe) in bloom before; this one does not have holly-shaped leaves:

A random plant of Desert Bluebells (Phacelia campanularia)
was not in a roped-off section of the Garden. 

We parked next to the Botanical Garden, then walked up to the road's end.  It was nothing special for Santa Barbara, which means it was gorgeous. As we walked along the garden's roadside, we saw a wonderful mix of native shrubs: lemonadeberry, toyon, laurel sumac, sugarbush, mountain mahogany,  and a few more, with a few oaks as well.  Keep those in mind for a trimmable background xeriscape evergreen hedge.

From left to right: Toyon, Sugarbush below, Laurel Sumac, with Oak in the back.

Lemonadeberry (Rhus integrifolia) berries here had the thickest white frosty coating I have ever seen.
Usually they are pink from the reddish hard seed under the coating.
 That coating comes off on your fingers, is slimy to touch, and tastes of citric acid, thus the name.
Kid fun!

We could tell as soon as we hit residential property.  Though the lots were large and very steep, folks had stripped the native foliage and planted whatever.  Sad.  And nobody was keeping out the invasive bad actors.  Natives were still found on some of the steepest slopes.

Lacy Greenbark Ceanothus, Ceanothus spinosis, with the faintest tint of blue,
 growing on vertical patches of land, is probably a local native.

Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) grew low and lush, and was just starting to bloom.

I am starting to know natives from non-natives.  I can't help loving the non-native Oxalis, though it crowds out native wildflowers all up and down the California coast.  If you want to nibble on it and check out its common name "Sour Grass," feel free!

Non-native Oxalis, probably Oxalis pes-caprae, which spreads by tuberous roots.

Fountain grass, however handsome, is bad news. Not only does it crowd out natives, it provides dense dry summer fuel for fires.

Fountaingrass (Pennisetum setaceum): good looking, bad actor.

Roadside attractions I was not able to photograph:  Gorgeous hillsides of yellow Coast Sunflowers and blue Lupines along Highway 154 in the Santa Ynez Mountains on the way to Solvang.  Hard to pull over in 50-mph traffic on windy roads in the rain.  And at my favorite road cut on Highway 101, in addition to the silver jewel-like Dudleya pulverulenta I always ogle, I noticed for the first time some Giant Coreopsis (Leptosyne gigantea, formerly Coreopsis gigantea.) A Dr. Seuss plant if there ever was one!

The main attraction was my son Mark, the "token white guy" performing with Ravaani,  a UCSB Indian a cappella group that does mashups of American pop songs with Indian songs.  I'm glad I got to see the roadside attractions too.

To subscribe to this blog, click here.
To use text or photos from this blog, click here.
To share this post (do share!) click on the appropriate tiny icon below (email, facebook, etc.)