A few moments in Wilderness Gardens County Preserve

This is a species that results in muffled squeals when I find one. Everything about it is beautiful in my opinion. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with myself for having left my macro lens at home.

California Peony (Paeonia californica)

Kumeyaay Ehmuu (Bedrock Mortar) with Oak Leaf and Acorn

These are used by native people to grind acorns and other foods.

Discarded Butt

If this action had resulted in an inferno, would it really have been a “wildfire?” Careless arson is more like it. And the native plant “fuel” would be blamed.

Blue Dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum) with Buffalo Gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima)

Coyote Stare

It was a brief encounter and wonderful as always. Coyotes who aren’t fed by humans will be out of sight shortly after you see them.

Fingertips (Dudleya edulis) and Chaparral Yucca Remains (Hesperoyucca whipplei)

I planted this very combination in our backyard years ago and both have become huge. Sea dahlias (Leptosyne maritima) have woven themselves through the chaparral yucca and are currently blooming; the latter will send up a large inflorescence at some point, bloom profusely and then die. Sculptural hardly covers it.

A heartfelt thank you to the people who saved this land for the native plants, wildlife and us to enjoy respectfully. Some “things” are irreplaceable.

California kingsnake

I was thrilled to see this California kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae) heading across a trail in Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve. Had I not been looking down, I could have easily stepped on it or put the front wheel of one of my bikes across its back. Flattened animals and plants are situations I encounter in our San Diego preserves all too often. I stuck around until it made its way safely across.