This spring our focus is on planting more natives and managing weeds. Our planted natives are coming in strong and growing fast, and loving the March rains. Most of the restoration area directly west of Del Dios Park is planted, with upwards of 300 native plantings. To complement our efforts, seedlings are emerging from the soil seedbank, including oaks, mugwort, deer weed, dove weed, lupines, poppies and 3 different kinds of heliotrope and many more. Del Dios Park is also sprouting volunteer native grasses. Salt grass and purple needle grass are volunteering to cover the ground in the open areas.
The purple needle grass grows in "tufts". This photo shows 4-5, with a few close together in the center and two smaller ones toward the left. The purple coloring is in the seed (see next image).
Seeds of the purple needle grass.
A volunteer oak seedling.