Take a hike at Soka soon

Thousand Oaks landscape architect Thomas F. Kaye will lead a "Chaparral Walk-and-Talk" from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Sat., Sept. 20 on the campus of Soka University, 26800 W. Mulholland Hwy., Calabasas. Admission is free but reservations are required and may be made by calling (818) 878-3763. Rain will cancel the event.

Kaye will lead participants on an easy-paced walk to view late summer wildflowers and to identify those Santa Monica Mountain native plants that work best in home gardens or to landscape hillsides.

Additionally, he will discuss the rich geologic history of the area; the significance of the native flora to the previous Chumash natives; identify poison oak from its benign, non-dangerous lookalike plant, the squaw bush; provide information on poison oak’s natural-plant antidote, mugwort; and review how animals and plants cope—and sometimes thrive—in the Southland’s Mediterranean climate.

Walk participants can also expect to see an extinct volcano, remnants of ancient lava flows and a trapdoor spider den.