Hermosa Beach Flowers of the Valley School Dune
by Kevin Cody Whenever Suzanne Evans looks at the largely barren sand dune behind Hermosa Valley School, and wonders if it will ever bloom again the way it did when she was a child, she reminds herself of what naturalists say about sand dune flora: “It sleeps, it creeps, and then it leaps.” Since 2014, Evans and a group of helpers, including Valley School eighth graders, have been clearing the dune west of the school of invasive species, and seeding it with Beach Evening Primrose, Deerwood, Lupine, Toyon, Lemonade Berry, Coastal Sagebrush, Coyote Bush and other native flora. Evans gathers the seeds from Hemosa’s increasingly scarce vacant lots. She found Evening Primrose and Pink Sand Verbena on two sandy lots in the 1100 block of Palm Drive. Both lots have since been built on. She found more of the same seeds in the front yard of a home in the 1400 block of Hermosa Avenue, but that yard has since been uprooted and covered in wood chips. Residents in the 1400 block of Monterey gave her permission to go through their gates and gather seeds from the back of their property, which faces Bayview Dr. But it, too, will soon be built on. California Beach Sunflower. Photo by Beverly Baird…
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