Hillside walk, 21 July 2017
The California mugwort (Artemisia douglgasiana) in the lower reaches of Canyon 8 is at last blooming. A significant patch of this plant resides there, on either side of the flood debris dam.
This week's hillside walk began mid-morning, so it was much earlier than last week's walk. I was able to see just two blooms of California primrose (Eulobus californicus) before they disappeared, one being still half open and the other almost completely curled up.
I do wonder what controls the flowering of the cliff aster (Malacothrix saxatilis var. tenuifolia). It can't be random in the sense that all of these plants spread around the hillsides function simultaneously. For example, last week there were no flowers at all; this week there are plenty. Maybe the reason is that today is a little cooler, although by only a few degrees, or perhaps that I was a few hours earlier.
The edible fig (Ficus carica) in Canyon 6 has sizable fruit. Just one of them was ripe, and the birds had been pecking at it. I've always wondered whether these garden escapees produced fruit, and now we have the answer.