We found these salt tolerant gems down at the Asilomar State Beach along the foredune.  I’m always amazed that plants can grow in such harsh conditions such as this Astragalus nuttallii (Ocean Bluff Milk Vetch).  I fell in love with the highly textured leaves, but its seed pods made me giggle.

Here’s another pic of Astagalus nuttallii gripping on between the sand and a rock.  You’ve seen foredune before if you lived near a salty beach and even some fresh water lakes.  There’s a moment when the sandy beach stops and vegetation starts.  Basically, that’s called the foredune.

Here’s another foredune trooper, Abronia latifolia (Sand Verbena).  It more succulent than herbaceous when you see it on the beach.  Seems Abronias come in yellow or lavender blooming forms…and probably others that I’m just not yet familiar with.

Oh BTW…all these pics were taken down in Asilomar Beach in Monterey Bay, but we see these beach plants along our beaches too here in SF.

A couple of Erigeron glaucus (Seaside Daisy) were poking their heads out of the beach scrub.  We found these blooming up closer to the road than along the crashing ocean waves.

We just received our first big rains of winter which means that wildflower season is just around the corner.  We can’t wait to see some mega patches of wildflowers.  I think this year we definitely want to hit the Edgewood Preserve a little earlier this year, as we missed all the action in 2011. Do any of you have sweet spots you wanna share?

– Far Out Flora