Spring is Bursting Out All Over

Spring starts early in Berkeley with acacias and their bowers of yellow flowers appearing when we are still being drenched by the cold, wet Pacific storms of mid-winter.  The blooming tide spreads to the stone fruits—to the planted pink-flowering plums along the city streets and to the white-flowering “wild” plums which brighten up the dullest day in Strawberry Canyon.  In the wild lands, you can count on seeing red-flowered currants.

One week of warm weather in mid-March, along with lengthening days, is the formula for a headlong dash into high spring.  The winter grass on the hills—a short, dense, emerald-green turf a couple of weeks ago—is growing tall and rank.  The same vernal surge has brought on an explosion of spring wildflowers.

A short walk below LHS, along the slope beneath the knoll which we old-timers still call “Butterfly Hill” and now the site for the Hall’s outdoor display, is particularly colorful. Yellow buttercups make their visual heat among the green grass.California poppies bloom around the rock outcrops.On the steep slope that makes a dizzying descent into the headwaters of the North Branch of Strawberry Creek is a display of quintessential California blue and gold wildflowers -blue-purple bush lupine mixed in with a scatter of poppies and buttercups.

And just showing themselves among the grasses, blue dicks (which we knew as brodiaea but now has been re-classified as dichelostremma capitatum) are reaching for the sun on their tall stems.  Growing from underground bulbs called corms, they were an important starchy food for Native Americans who encouraged their growth by an annual burning of the grasslands.

The flowery display should continue for the next few weeks with more flowers appearing every few days.

Before leaving the slope, stick a sprig of mugwort, the local artemisia, in your pocket for future enjoyment.  Mugwort was an important addition to Native American pharmacology. The smell is delicious, even when wilted.  Folklore claims that putting mugwort under your pillow produces good dreams and allows astral traveling (see you on Mars!)

Phila Rogers

Bird Note.  March and April aren’t just about wildflowers.  They are the months when winter birds are leaving and summer birds are arriving to set up breeding territories.  Strawberry Canyon is alive with joyful song, none more musical than the endless stanzas of the tiny Winter Wrens, year-round residents who are now singing in the UC Botanical Garden.

Beginning April 1, the Garden is offering a three-session bird class.  No local spot is “birdier” than the Botanical Garden in Strawberry Canyon.  Call the Garden at 510-643-2755 to assure your place in this once-a-year event (or check out the April calendar on their website for more details).