Ventura Flowers and Your Conservation Powers

Written by Laura Pavliscak

Get out and enjoy Ventura’s outdoors! Fresh, aromatic leaves are unfurling in our shrublands and the pulse of blooming botanical species has begun. We traditionally think of spring wildflowers as herbaceous annual plants like California poppies, but in our area, some of the most visible plants producing vibrant blossoms are perennial species like shrubs, vines, and trees.

Here are a handful of flowering plants putting on a show right now in our local wildlands, and a few words on how you can support their flourishing.

California brittlebush (Encelia californica), only grows along the coast of southern California and into northern Baja, Mexico. These small shrubs erupt in sunflowers by mid-winter and gild our hillsides in golden hues, providing rich pollinator habitat. Linger by these charismatic daisies and watch the extraordinary parade of tiny native bees, flies, and beetles.

From afar, the luminous cascade of white bells spilling down larger shrubs and along canyon walls is hard to miss. Morning glory or bindweed (Calystegia spp.) is an early flowering vine that grows throughout our shrublands, leaning on neighbors to reach sunlight and gain exposure for its riotous blossoms. Look in any one of these flowers and you might see a fuzzy native bee covered in white pollen—the bindweed turret bee (Diadasia bituberculata) is a specialist pollinator and a nesting aggregation of these beautiful bees can be admired in the road of Harmon Canyon Preserve, among other open places, through the spring.

Another vining species that forms a verdant cape over anything that stands still long enough is wild cucumber (Marah spp.). Also called man root, these plants have an enormous tuber that exuberantly resprouts each winter, erupting into a firework of white blossoms almost immediately, and then dying back in late spring to meditate underground through summer and fall. Enjoy their cacophony of fleshy palm-sized leaves, tightly bound tendrils, and wildly spiky fruits—they’ll be largely gone by May!

Not as showy but even more dramatic, our oaks are currently flowering! Around Ventura, our dominant native oak is coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia). Stimulated by winter rains, these resilient trees extend the tender reach of their branch tips and erupt in a fringe of yellow catkins—the male flowers. Female flowers are small and inconspicuous, occurring in the protected nook between stem and leaf. Like a coastal Mardi Gras through early spring, this shimmery show is preparing the next wave of autumn acorns.

While marveling at the verdant transformation of our wildlands, appreciate also that many, if not most, of the native plants you see in our area exist only along a narrow band of California coastline and are highly specialized to live in our unique weather, soils, and interconnected web of life. These plants and the wildlife that depend on them are threatened by development and non-native invasive species like mustards and annual grasses that can outcompete native species and change the way whole ecosystems function, including increasing the frequency and impact of fires.

You can support the flourishing of local native plants in a bunch of ways!

•Slow down and pay attention. The more we observe and learn, the more we appreciate these fascinating organisms that support the foundation of life all around us–including our own!
• Stay on designated trails and refrain from collecting vegetation, including flowers. While one person’s indulgence may seem minor, the collective impact from tens of thousands of annual visitors can be significant.
•Take out what you brought in, including food scraps, wrappers, and dog poop. Even if biodegradable over time, introduced waste can change the way wildlife behave and subsequently how natural systems function, and can diminish the magic for other visitors.
• Support your local land trusts and conservation organizations. Conservation work is challenging
and expensive, and requires expertise and capacity. If you spend time in open space preserves, know that someone is investing considerable resources facilitating that experience for you. Consider supporting them to keep their efforts going.
• Vote! Use your civic voice to support the conservation of biologically diverse wildlands and the
institutions that manage them.

Enjoy the great unfurling out there. See you out on the trail!

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