As communities struggle to rebuild and recover from the devastation of the Palisades fire, nature is also in the process of regenerating.
When Topanga Canyon Boulevard reopened at the end of May, drivers were met not with bare hillsides but with a sea of purple phacelia flowers. Phacelias belong to the same family as the herb borage. Phacelia grandiflora—large-flowered phacelia—lives up to its name. Individual plants can grow to be more than three feet tall and produce spires of bell-shaped purple blooms, sometimes hundreds on a single plant. This is an endemic species with a range limited to just the transverse ranges of Southern California, including the Santa Monica Mountains. The first rain of the season ignited the growth of phacelia seeds that lay dormant in the soil for decades. This is a species that has evolved to grow in the aftermath of wildfire, untroubled by the drought conditions that limited the growth of many native plants this spring.
The extreme drought conditions that fueled the Palisades Fire in January remained in place throughout the spring, bringing little rain to the burn zone. Fire Station 69 recorded a dismal 5.2 inches of rain for the season that ends on July 1, far below the average 24.4 inches, Topanga Beach fared a little better, with 7.52 inches, but even a little rain was enough for some of the hardiest wildflowers to emerge. This wasn’t a super bloom like the spectacular wildflower season that followed the Woolsey Fire in 2018. The conditions following the Palisades Fire favored invasive species like mustard and bindweed more than native plants, but the phacelia was undeterred.
The phacelia is already setting seeds that may wait in the soil for decades before conditions are right again, but this is only the first chapter in a recovery story that may take as long as ten years to fully unfold. The vivid bloom of phacelia is now being replaced by a more muted tapestry of white cliff aster, red heart-leafed penstemon and dusty orange monkey flower—Topanga Canyon stalwarts that are always present by thrive after wildfire, spreading out into the space formerly occupied by larger chaparral plants. Many of those plants are also beginning to recover.
Every fire recovery is different. The same area may burn but the plant recovery always follows a different pattern, one determined by the weather, precipitation, temperature, and even the time of year.
Much of the growth currently underway in the burn zone involves the regeneration of the key chaparral plants. The tough and enduring chaparral yucca is one of the first to re-sprout after a fire. Its sword-like leaves are protected by a thick layer of fibers in the pineapple-shaped heart of the plant.
The big-pod ceanothus that dusts Topanga with floral snow every spring will be absent for many years. This plant must regrow from seed, a process that takes between four and seven years from seedling to flowering plant. Big-pod’s cousin, green bark ceanothus, is busy regrowing from its deep roots. How quickly it matures and blooms again will depend on how much rain we receive in the next several cycles.
Scrub oak, laurel sumac, sugar bush, toyon, California bay laurel, and holly-leafed cherry also regrow from deep roots.
California live oaks and sycamores have evolved fire-resistant bark, and are highly resilient, but their long-term recovery will also depend on the drought cycle and how much rain we receive in the next wet season.
Beneath the sea of phacelia, hidden among the tall stalks and shaded by the broad leaves, are other fire followers. Perennials and bi-annuals like wool blue curls, ear drops, and bush poppies are beginning to grow. They will be part of next winter’s wildflower display. Some of these will continue to bloom until the larger chaparral plants recover and crowd them out again. For humans, the sight of wildflowers on fire scarred hillsides is a symbol of hope, a sign that the disaster is over and recovery is underway. For the plants themselves, fire is essential; part of the cycle of life, death, and renewal, a cycle that has repeated many times.
