Southern California Montane Botanical Garden

My folks and I recently completed our annual pilgrimage to the Southern California desert, in pursuit of beautiful wildflowers after El Niño rains. They flew in from Southeast Alaska and I flew in from the San Francisco Bay Area for a week of exploring, hiking, and wonderful companionship. We have our favorite places to visit, like Whitewater and Oak Glen Preserves, Skinner Lake, Palm Springs area, Joshua Tree National Park, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. We like to compare conditions from year to year, and to try something new!

Apple orchard

Apple blossom

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This year we visited the Southern California Montane Botanical Garden, which is adjacent to Los Rios Rancho (a working apple orchard); and is part of the Oak Glen Preserve, which is managed by The Wildlands Conservancy. The Preserve is located in the San Bernadino Mountains, in a portion of the Transverse Range (oriented east-west, rather than north-south), with an elevation that ranges from 4,900 to 9,300 feet (or 1,493 to 2,835 m). It is a botanically diverse area with close to 1600 plant species.

Early spring visit to the Southern California Montane Botanic Garden

Hummingbird Hill

The botanical garden specializes in plants of the Transverse Range, including many that are endemic to Oak Glen. The garden includes a hummingbird garden, duck pond, pioneer garden with antique farming equipment, forests, and many hiking trails. We visited on a cold misty afternoon in late March (recall two years ago we experienced snow at Los Rios Rancho at this same time of year, see Snow Blossoms)!

Penstemon eatonii (Eaton's firecracker) - Oak Glen Native

Ribes malvaceum (Chaparral currant) - Oak Glen Native

The garden has excellent signage, so we learned about the many species of penstemon and currant species that thrive in the area, and provide nectar to a wide range of pollinators, including hummingbirds, native bees, wasps, and moths.

View of the duck pond

We also enjoyed strolling through the Pioneer garden, and around the duck pond, which is active with wildlife. And yes, we purchased apple turnovers and enjoyed them in the car with the heat cranked up!

Birds and Bees – Fertilization

This year we're exploring the fascinating world of plant reproduction in a series called "Birds and Bees." So far, we have mastered a few terms, and learned about the role pollinators play in bringing pollen and plants together. Now we're ready to enter the amazing events surrounding the fertilization of a flower's eggs.

Before fertilization can occur, each ovule within the ovary must be ready with a mature egg. When compatible pollen lands on the stigma, two cells within the pollen grain jump into action. One of the cells grows into a long pollen tube, through the cells of the pistil, in search of a microscopic opening in one of the ovules. If there are multiple ovules in the ovary, each ovule typically requires its own pollen tube.

Flower lifecycle – (C)2006 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

The second cell divides to become two sperm  cells that travel through the pollen tube to enter the ovule. One of the sperm unites with the egg in the ovule to form a zygote, the fertilized egg. The other sperm combines with another cell in the ovule to produce the endosperm, which is food storage tissue. The endosperm nourishes the zygote as it grows into an embryo, the immature plant within a seed. Amazing!

What's Blooming in March?

Spring is officially here, and the San Francisco Bay Area is in full bloom. Lots of rain in January, a balmy February, and more rain in early March have conspired to create a floral masterpiece. Our yard is alive with an assortment of little brown birds, humming birds, bees, butterflies, and squirrels. All of these pollinators are at work in their unique ways.

Pyrus calleryana with white blossoms

In early March, the Pyrus calleryana (ornamental pear) bloomed in a snow flurry of white petals, along with a succession of Magnolia soulange (tulip trees) with their velvety pink and cream petals. Muscari continued blooming from February into March in a lovely progression of purple blossoms.

Blossom from Magnolia soulange

The Ceanothus that I glimpsed from Highway 580 in February, came into full bloom in March. I love how those non-descript freeway shrubs become a mass of deep purple in the spring. Ceanothus is a California native.

The freeways have been golden with Brassica nigra (mustard) and Genista monspessulana (French broom). Neither are native and both are very invasive. They get a brief aesthetic pass for their lacy blooms (but then should be rooted out before they go to seed)!

Field of Brassica nigra

Communities of Eschscholzia californica (California poppy) are also blooming with their cheerful "cup of gold" petals. I spotted planters full of Strelitzia reginae (Bird of Paradise), and Lavandula officinalis (lavender) out in Dublin. The tulips at Mountain View Cemetery put on their spectacular show in Oakland.

This is just a snapshot of what is blooming in March here in the Bay Area. Thanks to El Niño, this is prime time for flower watching. Let me know what is blooming where you are, whether here in the Bay Area, or further afield!