Early Spring Flowers in Southern California

 

Throughout the yard, winter rains are promoting early California flowers. The Mexican redbud (Cercis canadensis var. mexicana) showcases lush magenta blooms on naked branches.

 

Inflorescences of tiny bright blue flowers tip the spreading arms of the 'Ray Hartman' ceanothus.

These are the shapes and colors of the kinds of flowers we typically find beautiful, but they aren't the only flowers. 

The California coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica) unveils clouds of rusty-brown star-shaped flowers. They aren't the flowers of bouquets, but they will attract pollinators and hopefully produce fruit for birds and other wildlife. If you look closely you'll see specks of pollen spilled across the coffeeberry's leaves. 

This large mushroom is a fungi flower–the fruiting body of an underground web of life. 

 

Identifying mushrooms is challenging, but I think this is a giant leucopax (Leucopaxillus giganteus).

Since the beginning of the rainy season, we've had just under 28 inches of rain. Generally, in the Los Angeles area we hope for 12–18 inches over the course of a year. The abundant moisture has promoted the growth of pincushion moss (Leucobryum glaucum). Our north-facing garden walls look more like England than dry Southern California.

Mosses reproduce via spores rather than seeds. The fringe of tiny stems rising up from the moss are the sporangium, the pods holding the spores. They aren't your typical flowers, but these too will bring new growth.   

California Natives in Spring

The ceanothus is blooming in bursts of blue-purple flower sprays. This lovely California native is green year round but is shows off in the early spring. Throughout the Santa Monica Mountains large specimens are edged in purple to white blooms, giving them the common name California lilac.

There are a variety of cultivars and this Yankee Point ceanothus hugs the ground, making it perfect along the walkway up to the house.

Meanwhile, the spring rains and the increasing sunlight have awoken the slumbering redbud. While I love our flowering ornamental plum, the tree is older and suffers from termite damage. It is at the later part of its life. Beneath it we have planted a young redbud, a native species that will one day replace the plum. The redbud also blooms and the seedpods it produces are a food source for a variety of birds. Succession is a normal cycle in a habitat and we have chosen to let the plum nurture a native tree to eventually replace it in our wildlife habitat.

Planting native plants doesn't have to be an all or nothing proposition. Gradually adding natives allows you to learn where different species will be successful.