Wildflowers on the Sonoma Coast
Jill Adams
Ranger
The Wildlands Conservancy, Sonoma Coast Preserves
We’re celebrating spring on the Sonoma Coast! While the calendar marks March 22 as the start of spring, the forest floor and coastal grasslands have their own calendar. Certainly this year, as you may have noticed, spring came even earlier than usual. Douglas iris and the hookedspur violet, reliable harbingers of springtime at Jenner Headlands Preserve, were seen blooming as early as November, months ahead of their typical February bloom time. Lucky for us all, they are still vibrantly dotting the hillsides along the Raptor Ridge and Sea to Sky Trails and it is not too late to see them.
In anticipation of an earlier peak bloom on our serpentine grasslands, we have opened the Wildflower Loop Trail at the Headlands. This trail meanders through the shallow, rocky soils of serpentine grassland, taking you past the showy purple pom poms of purple sanicle, tufts of the native Idaho fescue and California oatgrass, and showy bursts of the purple and yellow-beaked owls clovers; yellow carpets of goldfields are decorated with blue-eyed grass and the subtle hues of our native brownie thistle.
What Is So Special About the Serpentine Grasslands?
Serpentine is the state rock of California. This and other ultramafic rocks were formed under very high pressure between the earth’s crust and its mantle, then protruded closer to the surface through geological processes and lots of time. Characteristics of serpentine soil, such as low Calcium and high Magnesium, very low Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium (3 of the most important soil nutrients for plant growth and overall health), and low organic matter make it inhospitable for most plants…except for many of our wonderfully unique California endemics (native plants only found in this state) that evolved to thrive in such harsh conditions.
We welcome you to discover all the spring blooms from the coastal grasslands, through the redwood forest, and into the oak woodlands, past the madrone, toyon, and manzanita scrublands, all the way up to Pole Mountain, the highest point on the Sonoma Coast.