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How many plants ARE there?
A LOT of plants
Fallbrook 2007: The October Rice wildfire burned the plants to the ground on my
property and most of the area around the 500 foot trail. Most people described
the scene as a "moonscape". Black branches poking up out of the white ash on the
ground that used to be plants. Just a few short months after that
devastation the wildflowers came in. Most of them were kind of straggly, with
only a few species here and there.
See the top 10 in 2010!
2009
Those little bitty plants here and there last year have found their niche. Last
year's few scrawny purple nightshade plants are now everywhere. Lots of rock
rose and california broom. Tons of new ceanothus are crowding each other out
along with the chamise. Manzanita has risen from the roots. Lots of plants I'm
not quite sure about yet because they haven't produced any berries or other
flowers to help identify them yet.
Top 10 most appealing with the most population winter 2009
- ramona lilac
- too numerous to count the numbers of this ceanothus. Glossy green
leaves, in early February some of the 2 feet tall plants already had blue
blossoms. You see these beauties all over in the unburned areas around Hwy 15
south of Fallbrook.
- hoary-leaf ceanothus
- still too tiny for flowers. Looking forward to seeing and smelling
those white blossoms.
-
parish nightshade
- what were only a few scrawny plants last year are now a huge
population. Many of these are now a beautiful rounded mound of green leaves with
lots of purple flowers. Very pretty, see them everywhere along the trail
- golden yarrow
- thicker stalks and bushier this year, many flowering gold already
- rock rose
- now in quite a few different areas showing their dainty yellow blooms
- california everlasting
- I found only one plant last year, this year they are everywhere, big
and green and lots of white flowers. Also numerous along the trail.
- southern honeysuckle
- What was only one recognizable plant last year are now everywhere. The
honeysuckles root where the arching branches touch the ground
- canterbury bells
- there were a lot of bells in one area early last spring, now the
distinctive leaves are all over - promise of a great blue display spring 2009.
Described as "burn followers" these were really welcome after that bleak
landscape spring 2008.
- california buckwheat
- making a comeback underfoot in quite a few places, nice green
branches, mostly reclining right now
- golden ear-drops
- great big silver-blue bushy plant with fantastic gold blossoms. They
were among the first to appear after the fire and are bigger and better and more
abundant than ever today. There was and still is a lot of black space to fill so
I call these great
the most surprising 2009
-
california peony
- this one wins the most surprising award. That alien looking red flower
is weird and therefore very cool. Saw this for the first time early in 2009 and
now they are growing all over the slopes.
the most unappealing with the most population 2009
- chamise
- the chamise are growing up side by side with the white and blue lilac.
This plant is the reason it is called "chamise chaparral".
- sumac
- these plants like to take over. The leaves can cause skin irritation
so don't handle them. The scientific name says it all - "malosma laurina" - mal
means bad in Spanish.
2008
the weirdest and the coolest 2008
-
Deane's wirelettuce
- only a few of these in 2008. That long, tall twiggy stalk with just a
few flowers on the end make this one the winner of the weird 2008
-
weed's mariposa lily
- great, unusual, very cool and lots of them in 2008. Too bad the name
is weedii, sounds bad but this plant is very cool
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