Wildflowers in Our Own Back Yard

For once, those splashes of color along the freeway are something more inspiring than graffiti. They’re wildflowers. Outcroppings are spotting the San Fernando Valley in vacant lots, along roads and on hillsides and hiking trails in the Santa Monica, Santa Susana and San Gabriel mountains.

According to William Emboden, who teaches botany at Cal State Northridge and is a self-proclaimed lover of wildflowers, this year’s show is unusual--the result of a combination of heavy March rains and mountain snowfalls followed by warm weather early in April.

“Last year there were virtually no wildflowers, and this has not been a characteristic year at all,” Emboden said.

The most commonly sighted wildflowers in the Valley right now, he said, are the bright blue, multilayered lupine, blue dicks ( Dishlostemma )--which are tall, narrow-stemmed periwinkles--and Sisrynchium bellum, a wild iris found among grasses. Also blooming are the flowers Emboden calls “fire-followers,” which are found in areas that have suffered a brush fire. These include the blue phacelia, the small, popcorn-like white cryptantha and whispering bells. California poppies and wild mustard are also abundant.

Emboden said he thinks that wildflowers need to be appreciated up close, and encourages people to hike in the canyons surrounding the Valley. He recommends the trails that start just north of the Simi Valley Freeway in the Santa Susana Mountains, as well as the canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains. Some other nearby spots where the colors are especially bright include:

* The field just south of the Sepulveda Dam.

* The off-ramps of the Ventura Freeway at Valley Circle Boulevard, at Fallbrook Avenue and, from the eastbound lanes, at Kanan Road.

* The field at the southeast corner of Agoura Road and Kanan Road in Agoura.

Depending on the weather, Emboden predicts that the flowers might be gone by the end of April, so wildflower hunts should not be postponed. But even at the end of their season, Emboden said, the flowers should not be taken home--some species are almost extinct due to overpicking.

Why the fascination with wildflowers? Emboden said they provide a touch of beauty and life in the most ordinary settings. “There’s something incredibly optimistic,” he said, “about seeing a bright, beautiful blue lupine growing inches from the shoulder of the 101 Freeway.”