Saturday, July 3, 2010

Red Car Property: Brush Clearance Contractors Left A Few Native Plants


Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 23, 2010. Three out of four of these plants are native. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

When private brush clearance contractors followed City Lot Cleaning through the Red Car Property last month, I expected to find this slope below Adelbert denuded of native plants. To my surprise they actually left a few California Black Walnut saplings, California Fuchsia, Kotolo Milkweed (which is just starting to bloom) and some Cudweed (not visible in the photo above), as well as some non-native Jupiter's Beard.

Hopefully, the Miner's Lettuce, Blue Fiesta Flowers, Spanish Lotus, Tomcat Clover, Golden Stars and California Poppies all went to seed prior to brush clearance, as none of those plants survived. The natives usually come back every year despite brush clearance.

Mostly native plants recolonized this slope after a landslide in the record rains of 2005. It is one of the most diverse native plant communities on the Red Car Property.