Beautiful chaparral on San Diego's lower mountains

Chaparral, the tangled assortment of low-growing, drought-resistant, native shrubs covering most of San Diego County’s lower mountain slopes, has managed to remain fairly attractive this summer. Unlike many of the scrubby natives near the coast, chaparral plants tend to hang on to their leaves year-round.

This month, the coppery, sun-burnished remnants of last spring’s flower clusters are still clinging to the tips of buckwheat and chamise plants, and a few wildflowers have popped up here and there in response to scant thunderstorm activity over the mountains. To enjoy the beauty of the chaparral landscape, explore the hillsides above Lake Morena and along Lyons Valley, Japatul, and Boulder Creek roads in East County. Or head inland from Escondido toward Ramona or Valley Center. Most of these areas have been swept by one wildfire or another in the past years, but the native vegetation is gradually returning.

Highest Tide for September (a not-very-high +6.66 feet) is predicted for 9:05pm on Sunday, the 5th. The month’s lowest tide (a not-very-low minus 0.8 foot) will occur on the morning of September 18th at 2:40am. During September the tidal range is typically minimized. Starting in mid-October, extreme negative tides will begin to occur during the afternoon hours (a much more convenient time for exploring tidepools in the low-lying intertidal zone), and not much in the early morning. By December and January, the highest high tides will crest at nearly +7 feet during morning hours, and the lowest low tides will sink to nearly -2 feet during afternoon hours.

Before and during early dawn Friday morning the 3rd, the waning crescent Moon hangs below Castor and Pollux in the east. Far to the right of this tableau, Orion has already risen high to warn that winter is coming. Look far beneath Orion for Sirius. Between Sirius and the Moon shines Procyon.

The coming of September means that Scorpius, the proudly starring constellation of the southern sky in July, is tilting over and lying low in the southwest after dark, preparing to bed down and drift off for the season.

The above comes from the Outdoors listings in the Reader compiled by Jerry Schad, author of Afoot & Afield in San Diego County. Schad died in 2011. Planet information from SkyandTelescope.org.