Friday, March 8, 2019

Wandering further afield

Yesterday was sunny and clear and I decided to ignore my orthopedist's advice and hike south of my neighborhood about one mile to the Deane Dana Friendship Park, entering at the uppermost level on the east side.  The park is 123 acres of rambling trails, great for distance views (and walking dogs if you have one).  On most of my prior visits it's been dry and dusty.  Signs warning to be on alert for rattlesnakes have usually kept me from wandering far.  But yesterday it was green and the grassy areas had been recently mowed so I wandered further afield.

View of the dirt trail I followed headed toward the south side of the park with a view of the ocean in the distance


Several homes abut the top of the park, offering a view of a few back gardens, only a couple of which had much to interest an avid gardener.

This one had succulents mixed in with citrus, Brugmansia, nasturtiums and lots of blooming African daisies (Osteospermum sp.)

This one first attracted my attention because of the block terracing of the steep slope and the sculpture (of a coyote?) attached to the landing.  I only belatedly noticed the two dogs who'd appeared as I encroached on their territory.


The weeds were growing like crazy along the trail, interspersed with wildflowers just beginning to bloom.

I've no IDs for these

I noticed more greedy snails than flowers in this area of the park.  Masses of them, like those shown in this photo, covered some plants.


As the path climbed, I could see more of the ocean view on the south side of our peninsula.

As a wise garden blogger once said, there's always an agave

View of the south side of the peninsula


I reached a sign indicating that habitat restoration was in progress beyond this point so I turned around and went back the way I'd come, moving in the direction of the Los Angeles harbor.

You can just see the break for the Port of Los Angeles in the upper left section of this photo

A large area was newly mowed


I came across more signs indicating restoration work in progress and found what appeared to be a newly installed observation area.

You may note that there was another sign warning of rattlesnakes too

From a distance, I'd thought this was a tunnel but it proved to be a seating area


I couldn't find anything on the restoration initiative on-line beyond a Facebook notice of a planning meeting last November; however, a sign indicated the possibility that the restoration work may be focused as much or more on removing problem plants than on introducing new natives suitable to our coastal scrub ecosystem.

This is the so-called "Terrible Ten" identified as posing problems for the survival of our native coastal scrub plants


The new observation area was nicely done, although I was a little surprised to find that it pointed to the surrounding hillside and not the harbor.


Native buckwheat, already in bloom, was planted around the observation/seating area

The seats were nice but, curved for the comfort of behinds, they were also filled with rainwater

Signs explaining the focus on preservation, conservation, education and restoration efforts

My guess is that the metal post on the left is intended to hold a binocular at some point in order to better view the hillside (right) when the restoration work is complete


The view of the harbor from the park showed detail not usually evident in the photos I take from my backyard.

A closer view of the Vincent Thomas bridge from San Pedro to Long Beach

View of entrance into the Port of Los Angeles


I turned around and headed out the park the way I'd entered rather than rambling down the hill into San Pedro below.  It'd have taken me two or three times the amount of time to get home via the other route.

All in all, it was a pleasant walk.  I'll go back in a month or so to see if the wildflowers manage to survive the voracious snails and to assess the progress of the habitat restoration project.  The pedestrian trail along the major road that led back to my own neighborhood is pleasant enough in its own right.

Opuntias, agaves and other succulents, as well as Pelargoniums and trees line the pedestrian path


Our neighborhood's entrance succulent garden wasn't looking bad either.

The rain's done a great job of pumping up and filling out the succulents


There's yet more rain headed into our area Sunday into Monday but it's expected to be relatively light this time.  Our rain total for the year-to-date (counted from October 1, 2018) is 18.40 inches, some 23% above the "normal" level for Los Angeles (14.93 inches) and 474% of last year's pathetic total of 3.88 inches.

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

21 comments:

  1. Your 1st 3 ocean view pictures immediately took me back to my childhood visits to Marineland. They are so similar to the view we would see as we drove there, seeing it below from a higher aspect on the road. Walking round and around up the ramps and peering into the aqua waters through the windows is a favorite childhood memory.

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    1. I've vague recollections of going to Marineland once as a child, Kathy, but a clearer memory of attending the first or second garden show on the site, ambitiously termed "Chelsea West" or something in that vein, as an adult well after Marineland closed. I don't think the garden show last more than 2 years, if that. I remember being excited by the idea but finding the severe winds troublesome.

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  2. Those are some beautiful photos, and nice Agave find. I don’t have any idea what our rain total on the water year is but wow, we can’t be too far ahead of you.

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    1. Our rain usually comes to an end when March does, Loree, except for the occasional late summer tropical storm. At one time the long-term forecasts showed the prospect of rain well into April but those seem to have disappeared again. Reaching the total achieved in 2016-2017 seems unlikely now. NOT that I don't appreciate what we got!

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    2. I found our rain total for the water year (which runs the same as yours), we're (as of today...4 days after you posted your total) at 18.75", so chances are, if you got rain over the last 4 days you actually might be ahead of us!

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    3. I should have also noted we're about 5" below normal.

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    4. Your total surprises me, Loree, but it still nominally exceeds ours, which as of this morning, after a trace of rain overnight, stands at 18.43 inches. Sunday's storm completely passed us by, although other areas of LA County got some.

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  3. A lovely walk - what a view of the ocean! Invasives are such a huge problem everywhere these days. Around here, most restoration efforts center around removal of invasives first, then re-introducing natives. No need to watch for rattlesnakes though ;)

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    1. I wish the Parks Department provided more information on the specifics of their effort but I guess I'll just have to watch what materializes.

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  4. Plants are looking so green and happy!
    Why such a huge expanse of mown lawn? Hope that will also get rehabbed with native plants.

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    1. I was surprised by the large lawn area too, Diana, but apparently the park hosts events so I suppose an open area like that may be useful. Based on the November meeting notice posted on Facebook, it looks as though the lawn area was specifically part of the plan.

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  5. The rain has certainly worked magic in your area. What a delightful walk but I hope that you're not paying the price for ignoring your orthopedists advice!

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    1. Actually, I am paying a price, although I can't attribute all of it to my stroll in the park. I led a botanic garden 2-hour tour of gung-ho 8 and 9 year olds the next morning. This group of energizer bunnies wanted to cover the entire garden and I think we managed a healthy chunk of the 87 acres before I finally returned them for their picnic lunch. I'm hoping everything will stop aching before my next tour on Tuesday morning :(

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  6. Such gorgeous views. I wouldn't be able to stay away from there either. You need to walk through there occasionally. I see from the Terrible Ten that we have some of them on our invasive plant list. They are everywhere. I hope you don't overdo and you get to feeling better.

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    1. I need a soak in the hot tub but it's been too cold for an evening dip, Lisa. My husband has "helpfully" suggested that I just need a better exercise regime to build up my muscles...

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  7. A lovely walk, and the Rattlers are still hibernating right now. Be very careful when you go back in warmer weather. All those snails! Yikes!

    Walks through the neighborhood parks here this winter I pulled every Castor bean and trash-palm seedling I could reach (and there were a lot of them). There used to be Arundo donax here and there, but the drought really killed it off.

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    1. I saw small brown buttons on the plants along the path and initially thought they must be flower buds, only to be disgusted to realize there was a snail extravaganza going on. Why, oh why don't my resident raccoons move one mile up the road? They could live on snails in the park indefinitely.

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  8. A nice little meander so close to you. The rain has made all the plants so happy. We went to Lake Elsinore to see the super bloom, mostly poppies, and it was spectacular. So glad I got to see it - such a treat!

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    1. I hope you managed to avoid the worst of the traffic around the Lake Elisinore poppy fields, Eliza. I saw photos of the parking congestion in the LA Times. I stopped there on a weekday afternoon with friends during the prior superbloom and it was a mess!

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    2. We lucked out on Tues./5th, got there around 10 am and found a spot close to the entrance as someone was leaving. We left around noon and it was starting to get more crowded, but it wasn't too mobbed. I think early am and midweek might be the best. I expect they'll probably done by now, but there is always Antelope Valley, we went there and the poppies were still small seedlings. Might we nice this coming week and not too bad a drive if you time it right. Oy, the traffic you have to navigate out there, whew!

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    3. Our traffic does suck. It took me 30 minutes to get to a lunch appointment a mere 6 miles away today due to a detour...

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