CNPS SCV Blazing Star Logo
California Native Plant Society

Santa Clara Valley Chapter

Activities

Photography Group

Our Photography Group is a great place to meet other native plant enthusiasts while improving your photographic skills and learning more about our native plants. It is open to all. The group has periodic meetings, photography outings and an active email list. The group has an on-going #MyPhotoOfTheWeek activity on the email list for group members to share their favorite shots with the group on a weekly basis. There is a monthly virtual meeting on zoom on the fourth Friday of each month for members to share photos and more -- everything from photography tips to organizational ideas to plant hot spots.

Our upcoming events can be found on Meetup and Facebook. Past events can be seen here.

To participate in our virtual activites, we recommend that you join our online discussion group


 

 

Plant Lists

Plant lists for many San Francisco Bay Area parks and preserves can be generated from the Natural Resources Database at nrdb.org. Visual plant lists may also be generated at plantid.net.

The following are custom plant lists from local CNPS field trips, bioblitzes, plant surveys and restoration projects:

 Other lists:

Anza Borrego State Park - March 6 - 13, 2016

By Dee Wong, Field Trip Chair

bighorn sheep anza borrego lohseCo-leaders Patricia Evans and Joe Cernac took 17 hearty souls (including CNPS fellow Sally Casey, age 94) on a trip to the desert, despite forecasts of rain. After arriving in Anza Borrego on Sunday March 6, the trip started in the rain Monday with a stop at the visitor center. Two days of sunny hiking followed in Palm Canyon and Culp Valley. Many of the highlights were seeing the desert peach, desert apricot, and desert almond all on the same day. We also saw five bighorn sheep which the state park is partially named after, Borrego, and hundreds if not thousands of sphinx moth caterpillars of various instars (molting phases) devouring the brown-eyed primrose and sand verbenas. Dee Wong even saw one that was digging a hole in preparation for pupating.

Read more ...

Stile Ranch Hike #2, May 10, 2015

By Dee Wong, Field Trip Chair

asclepias-fascicularis-narrow-leaved-milkweed-closeHike #2 was to see the progression of drought effecting Stile Ranch. There were 11 attendees including the co-leaders Stella Yang and Dee Wong, and Ken Himes as sweep. As the weather heated up without much winter rains, the grasslands along the trail had already started drying out and turning gold and silvery in color. The native grasses such as Elymus glauca, Melica californica and Melica torreyana had begun to set seeds. With most spring wildflowers finished flowering, the summer flowering plants that were in bud (during hike #1) were now flowering, such as the Monardella douglasii, Streptanthus glandulosus var. glandulosus.

Read more ...

Stile Ranch Hike #1, Mar 8, 2015

By Dee Wong, Field Trip Chair

lewisia-rediviva-bitterroot400The intention of having a three-part series of hikes to the same location over the course of the year was to see the changes of diversity of one particular area.
Hike #1 started at 9am and ended about 1pm.  Thirty people attended, including the trip leaders and sweeps.  We split into two groups, with Dee Wong and Woody Collins as co-leaders and Huey Shin Yuan as the sweep in one group, and Ken Himes and Stella Yang as co-leaders and Carolyn Dorsch and Michael Yantos as the sweeps for the other group. Thanks to all participants for sharing their knowledge and their time to help make this a very successful trip.

We saw these flowers in bloom:

Read more ...

Castle Rock October 25, 2014

By Dee Wong, Chapter Treasurer at the time, now (Feb 2015) our Field Trip Chair

Our last field trip for the year took us to Castle Rock State Park.

There were 14 in attendance including the co-leaders, Ken Himes and Dee Wong, and with Toni Gregorio-Bunch as our sweep. Thank you Toni! Of the 14 people, there were one new member who joined before the field trip and three that are not members and were enthusiastic to become members of our Chapter. While on the trail, Dee also encountered a young couple from Marin, who were curious about what we were doing, and was handed a membership form and a plant list for this hike. They were so thrilled! We hope this will capture their interest in joining CNPS!

On the morning of the hike, the weather was overcast with light drizzle on and off but cleared to occasional blue skies in the afternoon. The view was quite dramatic with Ken and Dee vocalizing their view of the scenery to be that of the Oregon mountain ranges with mist rising from the forest, rain curtains drifting by in the background, and misty sun rays shining through the clouds.

Read more ...

Mount Lassen Car Camp - July 13-17, 2014

By Dee Wong, Chapter Treasurer at the time, now (Feb 2015) our Field Trip Chair

Mt. Lassen Car Camp, six people in the shade of a tree. Photo taken by Carolyn DorschDee Wong, Ken Himes, and with the help of Paul Heiple and his wife, Linda (who helped shepard the group to be keep the pace going) successfully co-led the Santa Clara Valley Chapter field trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park from Monday, July 14 through Thursday, July 17.  We camped at Summit Lake South and Warner Valley to see geological and botanical wonders that are unique to this area. Including the co-leaders, there were 19 participating CNPS members mostly from our Chapter, along with Deanna Giuliano, president of the Santa Cruz Chapter who was also there, and made it all so fun.

Photo: from Left to Right: Diana Quon, Patricia Evans, Dave Hershey, Ken Himes, and Dee Wong. Photo taken by Carolyn Dorsch.

Read more ...

Bean Hollow & Pebble Beach, May 11, 2014

By Toni Corelli, Chapter Chair Rare Plants, San Mateo CountyCoastal flowers overlooking tidepools and Pacific Ocean beyond

The one mile walk along the Arroyo de los Frijoles (Creek of the Beans) Trail between Pebble Beach and Bean Hollow Beach offers a close-up look at tide pools, wildflowers and colonies of harbor seals and shorebirds.

Read more (PDF) ...

  YouTube icon Facebook icon Instagram icon Meetup icon Twitter icon

Upcoming Events

Thu Mar 28 @ 6:00PM - 07:30PM
Ten Easy Steps to Creating a Bird- Friendly Garden, a talk by Vivian Neou
Fri Mar 29 @ 9:00AM - 12:00PM
Friday Edgewood Restoration
Sun Mar 31 @ 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Joshua Tree National Park
Mon Apr 01 @ 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Joshua Tree National Park
Tue Apr 02 @ 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Joshua Tree National Park
Tue Apr 02 @ 6:00PM - 07:00PM
Ten Easy Steps to Creating a Bird- Friendly Garden, a talk by Jennifer Dirking
Wed Apr 03 @ 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Joshua Tree National Park
Thu Apr 04 @ 6:00AM - 07:30PM
California Native Gardening Month by Month, a talk by Helen Popper
Thu Apr 04 @ 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Joshua Tree National Park
Fri Apr 05 @ 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Joshua Tree National Park