Hillside walk, 15 January 2018
Nearly a week ago was the start of two days of rain, totalling 66 mm. Mostly it was steady rain, a small amount was heavy. Hence this week's walk revealed millions of small green shoots coming out of the ground, mostly grass 2-4 cm long. Nevertheless, the greening was not uniform. Surprisingly, some steep areas of the north hillside, for example, have virtually no green shoots. The amount or erosion on the hillsides is minimal.
It's a joy to see the mosses, ferns, and liverworts all green again.
Flowers this week were almost identical to last week. The four o'clock (Mirabilis laevis var. crassifolia) had about a half dozen flowers rather than just the one or two it has had in recent months. This is on a single plant at the entrance to Canyon 8.
The chaparral currant (Ribes malveceum) still has just a handful of flowers. It's almost finished its blooming.
The same plant of California fuchsia (Ribes speciosum) beside upper Lida Street / Canyon 2 continues to have an ample crop of flowers; but it's the only specimen of this species with flowers. Many of this species have died over the past year, and now have small new branches coming up out of the ground. A few specimens have the old branches growing new leaves. Presumably most of these will flower later.
