common_nature | 2017 Flower Walk

At the risk of Spamming this group here are three posts that detail the Flower Walk we did this last Sat April 15th on my Ranch in Northern California.

We started up Red Barn Creek which was very full and a bit hard to cross. As usual the pace was extremely slow at first as everyone stopped and talked about every single new plant (it seemed!) Eventually we entered the big meadow across from Devil's Den. One of the members, using her field glasses spotted "a yellow flower" so we all trooped back across the stream and up into Devil's Den.

Devil's Den is an ever changing and eroding mass of highly Serpentine laced soil. Serpentine rock is part of the mantle rock, not the earth's crust. It forms in sea bottoms, fractures easily and is thrust up in our countryside as the continental plates collide. It is full of Magnesium and thus is very hard to grow anything in. Here the serpentine rock has mixed into this gravelly amalgam. It erodes really quickly and nothing grows on it.

Here are two pictures of our yellow Owls Clover all tangled up in purple vetch. They were way more brilliant yellow than either picture shows.

Chuck and Olly brought up the rear of the group as we climbed up and out of the top of Devil's Den. It looks so smooth and green but the cows make deep hoofprints into the soft grey clay making walking is really rather difficult.