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Friday, March 21, 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!

Links for the areas below can be found be by using the Wildflower Site Links

Spring 2008 is off to a brilliant start with excellent wildflower displays in many areas of Southern California.

We start in the southeast at Ocotillo Wells State Vehicle Recreation Area. There’s still color along the Shell Reef Expressway in the Devil’s Slide and Barrel Springs areas. Note: this is a 4-wheel drive area, with patches of loose sand. 

Look for apricot mallow along well-paved Highway 86 where it meets the 78; and Orcutt’s aster along Highway 22 near the 78.

The best spots in Anza Borrego Desert State Park include Henderson Canyon where sand verbena meets dune evening primrose and Little Surprise Canyon with ghost flower on the left near the canyon entrance.

In the park’s southern end, desert lavender and ocotillo are blooming in Plum Canyon. Pink beavertail cactus and yellow-green cholla are flowering by Elephant Trees Trail.

Follow the 3-mile loop around Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet for a spring parade of local wildflowers.

In Joshua Tree National Park, visit Pinto Basin for blankets of hairy sand verbena and white pincushion with red-flowering chuparosa. Stand quietly, and hummingbirds will come.

The newest park bloom is near the North Entrance station, near the town of 29 Palms. Look for desert dandelion, coreopsis, phacelia and more. 

Joshua trees are in full bloom at higher elevations near Keys View and Jumbo Rocks campground. And 49 Palms Oasis is showing exceptional bloom, near the parking lot and along the 1 ½ -mile-long trail. 

In the Mojave National Preserve, go to Cima Dome for Joshua trees; and to Devil’s Playground or Jackass Canyon for Bigelow monkeyflower and more. Shrub-like bladderpod is flowering in Kelso Dunes, a rich spot for golden evening primrose, purple mat and more.

Beds of sand verbena and desert sunflower are still drawing crowds to Amboy Crater, in the East Mojave near Needles. Roadside displays are fine on Route 66 from Amboy to I-40 along Spring Mountain Road, and the I-95 South from Needles to Snaggle Tooth Pass. 

Some two dozen species are flowering along Highway 190 near the east entrance to Death Valley National Park. Look carefully for golden evening primrose, gravel ghost and several species of phacelia.

The Kern River Valley is starting to bloom. In Kern Valley, the hills near Onyx are ablaze with both California and golden poppy. Up Fay Canyon, there’s owl's clover, goldfields, white miniature lupine and more.

In the Kern River Preserve at Sierra Way, the hillside is thick with thistle sage, spider lupine, bishop lotus and more than a dozen other wildflowers. Bird’s eye gilia lends a bluish hue to the hills along Kernville Way in Kernville. 

On the Carrizo Plain National Monument, portions of the valley floor are filling in with goldfields. They say it’s a good year for Tropidocarpum, a tiny yellow flower that usually goes unnoticed.

A drive on Simmler Road reveals hillside daisy, tidy tips and others. Large bush lupines perfume the foothills along Selby Road. A pale-yellow carpet of less-common Jared’s peppergrass grows along Panorama Road. This very fragile plant is best viewed from the road.

A screaming yellow profusion of giant coreopsis – is happening now along Highway 1 from Pt. Mugu south to Malibu, with tallest densest stands at the northernmost point. By many accounts, it’s the best show in years for this curious succulent daisy. (This species and many others mentioned in this report are available in the Theodore Payne Nursery.)

A hike to the top of Mugu Peak and La Jolla Loop in the Santa Monica Mountains offers masses of chocolate lily. While shooting stars are nearing their peak on Circle X Ranch and the Mishe Mokwa Trail, dozens of other species are just starting to bloom.

Angel’s gilia, ground pink and other tiny flowers are blooming at the Lake Eleanor Open Space Area in the hills southeast of the intersection of Westlake Blvd. and Potrero Rd.

Hiking trails around Placerita Canyon Nature Center, off I-14 at the western end of the San Gabriel Mountains, offer California everlasting, western wallflower, golden yarrow and more. Take care to avoid stinging lupine and poison oak!

And finally, we’re pleased to announce that the Antelope Valley California Poppy Preserve reports that “fields of poppies have finally started coloring the hillsides orange, with goldfields adding swaths of yellow.” Spring has truly arrived in Southern California.

That’s it for this week. Our next report will be posted on Friday, March 28. Check back each week for the most current information on where to see wildflowers.