HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH WILDFLOWERS\Ventura County burn zones yield plenty of blooms.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Sultry spring days have drawn bright blooms from wildflowers across Ventura County's mountains and hills as a flower season approaches its peak over the next several weeks.

Broad displays are sure to be found in the Santa Monica Mountains, notably in areas scorched by the 1993 wildfires, and in pockets of the Simi Hills recovering from decades of livestock grazing.

"They were a little late this year. The height of the flowers is now," said Tom Maxwell, a naturalist from Thousand Oaks who leads popular walks.

The best displays Maxwell has spotted are in Wildwood Regional Park, in Thousand Oaks, and Sage Ranch Park, in the hills separating Simi Valley and Chatsworth.

Maxwell said he has identified some 40 different wildflowers in bloom in Wildwood, ranging from white buckwheat and pink prickly phlox to yellow bladder pods, red-orange Indian paintbrush and blue filaree. The 30 or so wildflowers blooming on Sage Ranch include the white everlasting, the maroon and yellow wild peony, and both pink and blue filaree.

"I'm amazed at how many there are. We expect to see more as we go along," Maxwell noted. "The periodicity of rains is going to lengthen the flower season."

For a third consecutive spring, open space burned by the Green Meadow and Old Topanga wildfires boast a great variety and volume of wildflowers, said Ken Low, a ranger who leads walks across the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

"We didn't get as much rain as we want, so we're a little average. But it's been warm and that's good," Low said.

Although still below normal seasonal rainfall levels, what had been a mostly dry winter improved with steady, soaking rain in recent weeks.

"The ground is still moist because of our last rains," Low noted. "The rainfall helps out, but it's more so the length of the day because the plants are on a biological clock. They sense the daylight."

Fire-following flowers that Low has spotted include the white wild cucumber, lavender stinging lupine, purple phacelia and orange California poppy at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa; wild cucumber and pale blue baby blue eyes at Stunt Ranch; and stinging lupine, phacelia, and Indian paintbrush in Zuma Canyon.

FLORAL DISPLAYS

Docents and rangers recommend the following areas for wildflower walks:

Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa, loop trail at Wendy Drive and Potrero Road in Newbury Park: common fiddleneck, canyon sunflower, California peony, California everlasting, common eucrypta, purple nightshade, morning glory, wild sweet pea, crimson pitcher sage, skullcap, wild radish, wishbone bush.

Chumash and Hummingbird trails, at the north end of Flanagan and Kuehner drives in Simi Valley, respectively: wild peony, purple nightshade, bush mallow, phacelia, chicory, holly leaf, cherry shrub.

Wildwood Regional Park, west end of Avenida de los Arboles, Thousand Oaks: shooting stars, winter vetch, slender coreopsis, gold field, prickly phlox, fuchsia flowering gooseberry, white stem filaree, bladder pod, buckwheat, Indian paintbrush, wild peony.

Sage Ranch, at the end of Woolsey Canyon and Black Canyon roads in the Simi Hills: white stem filaree, everlasting, soap lily, buckwheat, wild peony.

Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park, loop trail at the east end of Broadway above Moorpark: bladder pod, Indian paintbrush, lupine, California peony, California encelia.

Zuma Canyon and Ridge, at the end of Bonsall and Busch drives in Malibu: paintbrush, wild cucumber, stinging lupine, chaparral currant, prickly phlox, green-bark ceanothus, chocolate lily.

Los Robles Open Space Trail, at the south end of Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks: Gooseberry, prickly phlox, miner's lettuce, Indian warrior, wild peony.

Other locations: La Jolla and Sycamore canyons in Point Mugu State Park, Cage Creek and Yearling trails in Malibu Creek State Park, Cold Creek Canyon and Cold Creek Valley preserves on Stunt Road in Topanga State Park.

SOURCE: Park services

WHERE TO CALL

For information about wildflower walks and access to trails, phone the following agencies:

National Park Service: [phone], Ext. 201.

Sierra Club/Conejo Group: [phone].

Conejo Recreation and Park District: [phone].

Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

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Photo (color in CONEJO edition only) Ken Low, a National Park Service ranger who leads walks in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, inspects a lupine. Tom Mendoza/Daily News Box (1) FLORAL DISPLAYS (see text) (2) WHERE TO CALL (see text)