Poison Oak, California Poppies, Mustard and Mallards in the Arroyo Seco Pasadena

Every day thousands of cars speed across the Colorado Street bridge and the 210 bridge that span the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena — **Every day thousands of cars speed across the Colorado Street bridge and the 210 freeway bridge, beyond it, both spanning the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena.**

While the drought is definitely not over in Southern California, enough rain fell in the last few months to transform the Arroyo Seco into a verdant haven. Arroyo Seco means ‘dry ravine’ and most of the year this long, narrow city park lives up to its name.

One thing that struck me as I walked along the trails on a warm Saturday morning, was the abundance of mustard plants growing wild.

Mustard plants blooming in Arroyo Seco — **Mustard, blooming yellow, grows all over the state of California.**

While California Poppies, the official state flower, grew where planted in a drought-tolerant garden by the Casting Club, the mustard flourished everywhere.

The legend is that the first Padres who came to California (when it was still claimed by Spain) left a trail of mustard seeds behind them–a la Hansel and Gretel’s bread crumbs–so they could follow their own path on the return journey south to San Diego, the site of the original Spanish settlement in what is now California. True or not, mustard now grows from one end of the state to the other with no help from mankind. Perhaps it should be the real official California State Flower! Poison oak also flourishes. It, too is ubiquitous, but was here before the Spanish settlers.

Thanks for telling the world about this!

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