Together with Mountainfilm on Tour in the fall, the Rewild Ojai Native Garden Tour in the spring is becoming a hallmark of OVLC’s seasonal calendar. We are thrilled to see the community embrace the intention and practice of “going native” in their yards! In its first two years, the tour has concluded at the beautiful Birdsong Ranch, which highlights the full breadth and beauty of what native plants contribute to a well-designed landscape. 

Ceanothus, aka California lilac, dapples our mountains and hills with a multitude of diversity. On the cusp of spring, the flowers burst with color and scream of place and existence—hearkening to the clicks and ticks of winter’s cues. Its tall stature billows over trails like an elven tunnel in chaparral landscapes and speckles the coastal sage scrub. I point to the periwinkle-colored flowers puffing out, and declare it an angel, a cloud, a vector of light. This illusion must be the long-flowered panicles that filter the light in a mesmerizing spring glow. 

Often shadowed by the eminence of steelhead trout, clinging to cobbles in channels throughout the watershed, lies another anadromous fish. As a California State Species of Special Concern, the pacific lamprey is threatened by diminished habitat conditions throughout Southern California watersheds. They are ranked S1 by NatureServe, signifying their population in our watershed is critically imperiled.