The Wildflower Hotline is made possible by TPF Memberships and Donations

Friday, April 18, 2008

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

Welcome to the 26^th annual Wildflower Hotline, brought to you by the Theodore Payne Foundation, a non-profit nursery, seed source, bookstore and education center dedicated to the preservation of wildflowers and California native plants.

Spring wildflowers have been good to glorious so far this year, with lavish displays in both popular and less-known locations from the southern deserts to the central coast.

The hills near Gorman are taking on bright and pastel hues, and California’s fabulous golden poppies are now lighting up the Antelope Valley. But more about that later... You may want to visit Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in San Diego County for meadows dotted with popcorn flower, blue dicks and cream cups.

Two yellow-flowered California native shrubs can be spotted from roads near the park. Mahonia is blooming along Highway 79, about four miles south of Julian; and California bush poppy is flowering profusely by Highway 8 above Alpine; as well as at the end of the Highway 79 exit from the 8, and along the Banner Grade.

It’s a very good year in this county and in general for ceanothus or California lilac, a large group of evergreen shrubs with tight clusters of tiny flowers in white or one of many shades of blue. Ceanothus flowers are often sweetly scented, and many kinds of this durable shrub will thrive in home gardens.

Lovers of succulent plants will find great joy in local deserts, especially at higher elevations. Flowering cacti of Anza Borrego Desert State Park include flat-pad opuntia, cylindical cholla, barrel-shaped ferocactus and diminutive mammillaria or pincushion cactus.

Desert dandelion still decorates the north and west entrances to Joshua Tree National Park. Annual flowers line the roadsides, and such short-lived beauties as hole-in-the-sand plant, pincushion and chia are still popping up in the washes. Shrubby yellow creosote, bushy apricot desert mallow and towering Mojave yucca are in bloom. Beavertail and barrel cacti are especially abundant and colorful.

Joshua trees, cacti and some annuals are flowering in the Mojave National Preserve, and some color can be found in Death Valley National Park – but both areas are waning as warm weather and lack of rain take their toll. Desert views in both places are breathtaking, nonetheless.

For something completely different, consider a trip to waterfall-studded Plumas County in the far northeast corner of the state. There, buttercup and bitterroot are emerging on Table Mountain. Feather River Canyon sports poppy, lupine, redbud and dogwood. The Quincy area has blooming manzanita and low-growing, yellow-flowered Sierra violet. To learn more about wildflowers and tours in the area, go to the Plumas County Wildflower Hotline at:

 www.plumascounty.net/Things%20to%20See%20And%20do/wildflower%20viewing.htm.

In pastoral San Luis Obispo County, impressive and diverse displays continue in Cottonwood Canyon, off Highway 166 west of the town of New Cuyama. Visual treats of the season include fields and hillsides of purple thistle sage, yellow monolopia, yellow and white tidy tips and others.

On the Carrizo Plain National Monument, you’ll find tidytips, phacelia and fiddleneck along Soda Lake Road; and nice patches of bush lupine, blazing star and stink bells in the Caliente Range.

Trails winding through coastal sections of the Santa Monica Mountains offer many different ephemeral and long-lived bloomers. Look for gilia, lupine and sage in sunny areas, and hummingbird sage and fuchsia-flowered gooseberry in the shade. Poison oak also grows in the shade – so be aware.

To the delight of travelers on the I-5, the steep slopes around Gorman now resemble an Impressionist canvas. California poppy, globe gilia, lupine and others have popped and are flowering in profusion. Be sure to bring your camera!

Our last recommendation: Get thee to the Antelope Valley! Orange and yellow blankets now smother the buttes and hillsides in and around the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. The valley floor – including stretches of 110^th Street from the 138 to Lancaster Rd. – is equally stunning with carpets of poppy, goldfields, fiddleneck and gilia.

Inside the Poppy Reserve, there are flowering jewels along every trail. Watch for pygmy-leaf lupine, blue dicks and white cream cups by the Lightning Bolt Trail up to the Kitanemuk Vista Point. The natural spring on the North Poppy Trail is a good place to sit quietly and watch for wildlife.

The City of Lancaster’s annual Poppy Festival takes place in Lancaster City park this weekend, April 19 and 29, from 10am-6pm daily. For more information, go to poppyfestival.com. 

Wherever you travel, remember to stay on designated trails, and please don’t pick the flowers!

That’s it for this week. Our next report will be posted Friday, April 25. Check back every week for the most current information on where to see wildflowers.