Coast Lilies are blooming now, as photographed by Susan Rudy.

Susan Rudy wrote, “The patch of Coast Lilies, Lilium maritimum, on Highway One at mile marker 38.8, is spectacular at the moment, and the population has grown considerably over the past several years. This beautiful, rare, endemic species is easy to see on the east side of the road, just inside the southern boundary of Salt Point State Park. It’s in the ditch/mowed verge, and continues for several hundred feet up the road.

I love seeing the bright orange-red flowers of Coast Lilies nodding on tall slender stalks. My neighbor has a patch by her spring box. They can grow three feet tall and more, but the ones Susan is referring to are shorter because of the mowing. Coast Lilies are pollinated by Anna’s and Allen’s Hummingbirds when first opening, and then by native Bumblebees.

Thanks to Susan for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

It's very warm on the Mendonoma Coast. It's toasty even in Point Arena!