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Friday, March 14, 2008

 Please join us at the Foundation on Saturday, March 29 for our annual Poppy Day celebration, with free talks, vendors and a native plant sale. We’re located in Sun Valley (in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley). Our beautiful 22-acre canyon land and demonstration gardens are bursting with spring color!

This year’s wildflower show is already staggering, with exciting displays all over Southern California.

We start near El Centro in the Yuha Desert, off Highway 98, where yellow Peirson’s evening primrose, pink sand verbena and cream-colored cheesebush are in bloom.  

Such uncommon species as desert bird-of-paradise, notch-leaf phacelia, desert lantern and broad-flowered gilia are flowering in Fossil Canyon, at the east end of Shell Canyon Road on the north side of the town of Ocotillo.  

Anza Borrego Desert State Park is glorious this week, with aromatic carpets of sand verbena, dune evening primrose and desert lily along Henderson Canyon Road. Desert lilies can also be seen and smelled along the Coyote Canyon Jeep Trail, aside Calcite Mine Road off S-22, near the entrance to Hawk Canyon and in the Carizzo Badlands.

Look for flowering barrel and beavertail cacti in Desert Gardens, and pretty little fishhook cactus near Tamarisk Grove Campground and in washes south of Highway 78.

California poppy, phacelia and lupine are blooming en masse in North San Diego County, along narrow and curvy Del Dios Highway between the coast and Escondido.  

Don’t mind dirt roads? Take the Nichols Road exit near Lake Elsinore, and head east to Lindell Road, which heads north. Expect flowers in every color of the rainbow.

Joshua Tree National Park is astonishing at low elevations, with more than 80 species of blooming wildflowers and shrubs in Pinto Basin, Cottonwood Canyon and along the south boundary of the park.

Mojave yucca and Joshua tree are blooming in and around the park, with the best Joshua trees along the main park road, including nature trails and the Keys View Overlook. Enter via the park’s west entrance.

Dozens of species are flowering in the Mojave National Preserve. Look for desert mallow in Devil’s Playground, Coulter’s lupine in the Foshay Pass, paintbrush in the Granite Mountains and blazing stars along Zyzyx Road.

The area around Amboy Crater is a hot spot, with desert lily in full bloom and carpets of desert sunflower and sand verbena that fill the air with an almost overpowering scent. There’s an incredible mix of annuals, including yellow cups, brown-eyed primrose and pygmy poppy. Looking down from the crater’s edge, you’ll see masses of Emory’s rock daisy looking back at you, following the sun. The whole area is peppered with unusually large plants of desert five-spot, with up to a dozen flowers each.

East of Amboy at the foot of the Bristol Mountains, try hunting for drifts of desert star and bristly langloisia – belly flowers of extraordinary beauty and, in this location, surprising size.

Color is still good in Death Valley National Park and expected to last for another couple of weeks. Desert gold predominates from the Beatty cutoff to the Visitor Center.

Visitors to O’Neill Regional Park in Orange County have seen phacelia, black sage, wishbone bush, prickly phlox, California peony and more along the road to the water tanks and out on the point.

Bush sunflower, lupine, phacelia and several sages are blooming at White Point Nature Preserve in San Pedro.

Hills and canyons south of Yorba Linda are bursting with poppy, lupine and other wildflowers, visible from the 241 Toll Road.

There are pockets of poppies and other wildflowers along the Lower Aliso Canyon Trail in Chino Hills State Park.

It’s almost Spring in the Santa Monica Mountains, where big pod ceanothus and shooting stars are now flowering along the Mishe Mokwa trail.

Hikers will enjoy a bumper crop of flowers on the Triunfo Trail in the southwest corner of Triunfo Park in the Conejo Valley. Blue dicks, clarkia and coastal lotus are just some of the beauties in bloom. 

Lower slopes of Figueroa Mountain in Santa Barbara County are slathered with Johnny-jump-ups, milk maids and more. Shooting star, chocolate lily and death camas are peaking on higher slopes. Drive a few turns past Tunnel Road for a blast of sky lupine and California poppy – one of the best wildflower displays, anywhere.

Flowering has begun at the Carrizo Plain National Monument in San Luis Obispo County, one of the world’s best wildflower sites. Details in our next report.

Lastly, the famous flower fields in the Antelope Valley California Poppy Preserve should explode with color in the next few weeks. A great year is predicted. Their Visitor Center opens and tours begin March 15.  

That’s it for this week. Our next report will be posted on Friday, March 21. Check back each week for the most current information on where to see wildflowers.