Staff Report
Photographer Stuart Wilson will present his images of California’s richly colorful and varied lupines, one of the state’s most beloved groups of wildflowers, at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 21, at UC Sedgwick Reserve in the eastern Santa Ynez Valley.
The Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society has scheduled the free event for the weekend of Earth Day. Guests are welcome to bring their own picnic dinners and come to the reserve early, starting at 5:30 p.m.
Spider Lupine, Lupinus benthamil. Photo by Stuart Wilson
Lupines are one of the most easily recognized plants in the pea family. They grow in California from the coast to mountaintops, from humble roadsides to wildland hills, and in every floral color.
Wilson recently spent two years traversing California on a quest to photograph all 104 species and varieties of the genus Lupinus in the state. He is working on a book, “Lupines of California,” with the help of Teresa Sholars, who wrote the text on genus Lupinus in the “Jepson Manual of California Plants.”
Wilson attended Brooks Institute of Photography and has traveled extensively to photograph rain forest flora and fauna as well as that of the American West.
He has taught photography classes at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and has been widely published in books, calendars, magazines, and DVDs. He is the principal photographer of “A Naturalist’s Guide to the Santa Barbara Region” by author Joan Lentz.
A list of upcoming lectures and field trips sponsored by the natural history society can be found at www.syvnature.org. For more information, send email to synature@west.net or call 805-693-5683.
