Flowers, Nature, Photography
Southern California Spring Wildflowers
After the rains, Mother Nature is putting on quite a show
After several years of severe drought conditions, Southern California has been deluged by rain this winter. You can almost feel the earth sighing in relief. The reservoirs have re-filled to the point that water has had to be released. And the hillsides, which had been baked to brown, are as emerald green as Ireland or England.
We normally do get a bit of a “wildflower show” here in the spring. But, after the deluges we have had, Mother Nature is putting on a full pageant.
On a recent hike through nearby Peter’s Canyon Regional Park I just couldn’t stop snapping photos of the flowers bursting from the earth. The top photo is of Common Stork’s Bill, a plant which hugs the hillsides and thrives in sandy conditions.
Perhaps my favorites though are the lupine and the California poppy. My first memory of seeing lupine is from Crested Butte, Colorado, a high-elevation mountain town, where the wildflowers explode across the meadows for a brief month or so. So, every time that I see them here, I am a bit surprised that they also grow along the coastline. But they are ubiquitous. And they always bring a smile to my face because they remind me of being in Colorado with my dad when I was younger.
And the California poppy, well they are sort of an iconic flower.
This time of year, they represent spring for Californians. While we have many invasive species here, the California Poppy is a native plant.
Dipterostemon, an herbaceous perennial, is also a native plant to the area. The deer, rabbits and gophers love these tender flowers.
One of my other favorites is the California Coast Sunflower, or California Brittlebush.
No two of these flowers ever look the same, due to the intricate patterns of the pollen-laden stamen in the center.
The delicate fringed lianthus flutters on the soft spring breezes. Also, a native to California, it resembles a poppy.
Here, they are spreading low beneath a prickly pear cactus. I lived in Tucson for many years when I was young, and I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the cacti.
The desert wishbone-bush, or mirabilis, are from the genus of plants known as “four o’clocks” or “umbrellawarts.” I love how their yellow stamen just pop against the purple petals. And the fuzz on the flowers before they open up adds an interesting textural element.
Another of my beloved cacti is the cholla. In these photos, you can also see the looming clouds before one of our recent rainstorms.
The popcorn flower, or plagiobothrys, are small herbaceous plants that really do resemble popcorn.
Another native species, black sage, likes sandy soil.
I’ve spent a lot of time in India, and I remember driving through fields of mustard there and realizing that the yellow flowers which cover the hillsides in California were also mustard. It is everywhere this time of year and can grow taller than me. When I am out on my mountain bike, riding through these fields of mustard is like being in a cloud of yellow.
And the hardy California buckwheat, also native to California, grows into a thick shrub. I love how the flowers look like candy-striped confetti.
We are still experiencing a lot of rain in Southern California and are feeling like the earth is finally quenched again. It is still early in the spring, and we have a couple more months of prolific wildflowers ahead of us. I’m looking forward to the rest of the show.
Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).
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Photos and story ©Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.
