March in the Chaparral

I went on a long run/march in the hills this week.  Some parts of the trail are so steep that I can't even pretend to jog up them.  The day was so pretty and the plants are started to bloom.  I decided I was going slow enough that it wouldn't make much difference if I stopped and took some pictures.

Wispy little clouds in a blue sky.

Single track trail through non-native grass.

I wanted to start keeping track of which plants in the chaparral bloom in each month.  I'm also trying to identify the native plants before I have to take my biology class on a field trip to identify native plants.


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California Lilac - sweet perfume floats around the hillside when these are in bloom.



Foothill penstemon



Sugar Bush



Maybe Lemonadeberry Bush?

 I've been trying to figure out which bush is the lemonadeberry.  It produces hard berries that taste like lemon when you suck on them.  I just don't want to put something in my mouth if it's NOT lemonade berry.


Trail with sun streaming through the chaparral.



Canyon Sunflower



Common Monkey Flower



Can't find it.  Maybe it's something that escaped from a garden and isn't in the native guides



The Coast Live Oaks are blooming too.



The white flowers and the green prickly thing hiding in the leaves are Wild Cucumber.



Elderberry



Even the poison oak is in bloom.

 I love it here.