If you’ve been patiently waiting through all of these winter rain showers telling yourself that they’ll have to bring some spectacular spring flowers, you might be in luck. However, those flowers might not be exactly what you were expecting.
When it comes to a spectacular wildflower season, it takes a bit more than just plenty of water. It has to be the right amount of water, spread out over the right spacing of time, with ample opportunity for the soil to soak the moisture up in between. Without that, root systems can flood or even wash away entirely. On the other hand, too little water at key parts of the season can cause plants to go into self-preservation mode and focus more on making seeds than expending the resources to bloom beautiful flowers.
At the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, the rains came in heavy but late, so there are actually fewer poppy buds than would normally be seen at this point in the season, according to the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
However, just because the hills won’t be coated in bright orange and gold doesn’t mean you should write the poppy reserve off just yet. While the poppies may not be at their most spectacular, experts predict it will be an above-average year for all the other wildflowers that make their home in the reserve. Starting in mid-March, botanists expect to see a spectacular bloom of goldfields, wild hyacinth, lacy phacelia, and other “surprise species,” the L.A. Times reports.
Early March may be the ideal time to pay a visit to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, where a record setting rain fall in the last two months and a run of relatively cool temperatures has kicked off what seems set to be an unprecedented bloom of desert lilies, verbena and dune primroses. And, don’t tell the Poppy Reserve, but we hear that Anza-Borrego might be getting in a better poppy crop this year than the Antelope Valley.
Even Joshua Tree’s desert landscape is getting into the springtime spirit. The spiky trees themselves are currently dense with fluffy white flowers and program coordinators in the area expect a burst of Arizona lupine, brown-eyed primrose, forget-me-nots and other wildflowers to be coming soon.
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