Congratulations to the Girl Scouts of Troop 3278 for completing a great Silver Star project!
The East Shepherd Canyon Native Plant Trail is all done, finito, up and running, and ready and waiting for our fellow Tierrasantans and San Diegans to come and enjoy it. The trail head is right at the corner of Santo Road and Antigua Boulevard, in lovely Tierrasanta. Our beautiful suburb of San Diego is just off of the 52, easy to find!
The Native Plant Trail extends 1/5 of mile along a very accessible walking and biking trail in East Shepherd’s canyon. There are 20 posts along the trail that identify native plants and give some information on each of them. The troop also completed an accompanying plant guide, which has lots more information on and great photos of the 20 plants on the trail and another 20 plants commonly found in our San Diego Canyons. The link to downloaded the guide can be found up at the top of this blog, and I am working on getting it uploaded onto Createspace, where anyone who is interested in owning their very own printed copy can order one. When this is ready the link will be up at the top of the blog next to the link to download the guide.
Below are photos of the trail, a virtual tour of our lovely East Shepherd Canyon. But nothing beats seeing, hearing, and enjoying the real thing. So pack up your self, your kids, your dogs, your friends, your students, everyone and anyone, and head on out to the East Shepherd Canyon Native Plant Trail! Nature awaits…
The beginning of the trail. There are 20 plants in all that are identified with posts.
Informational posts at the beginning of the trail explaining the project.
Rub the leaves of both of these plants, they are very fragrant.
The Gooseberry has REALLY big thorns!
In the early spring and summer Lemonadeberry has sticky, red berries that are SUPER tart! Which is how the plant got its name.
This is a very exciting area…5 posts in all.
Willow was one of the most utilized plants by the Kumeyaay Tribe, and Toyon has clusters of bright red berries in the winter.
Buckwheat is crowned with white flowers in the summer that turn to rusty brown seeds in the winter.
Two awesome trees! Sycamores have lovely soft leaves, give them a feel.
Bushmallow has cup-shaped pale pink flowers in the spring.
The Kumeyaay used the branches of this bush as brooms. As for a dustpan, who knows?
Try to get out to see this plant in the early summer. The flowers are gorgeous!
The last plant on our trail. And one last fascinating fact! Laural Sumac is related to Poison Oak, and can cause skin irritation in some people.
Just because our trail is done, it doesn’t mean you should stop exploring. There are lots of great plants and animals in our canyons and open spaces. Our guide has another 20 common plants found in our area, in addition to the 20 on the trail. Get yourself a copy and see how many of them you can find. And have fun!
Map of Native Plant Trail
Shooting for the Silver Star 