Since the report earlier this month, many more blooms have popped up at Casper’s Regional Park in Orange County. Along the Dick Loskotn Trail, look for patches of Catalina mariposa lilies in the grasslands, along with San Diego jewel flower and Padre’s shooting stars. Wild canterbury bells prefer sunnier slopes along with a few showy chaparral yucca. Not far from the West Ridge Trail boundary, you will find a large, blooming clematis vine. There are others nearby, but this one clematis is particularly grand with stunning flowers begging to be photographed. On the Starr Rise Trail, search for cute California golden violets growing in clumps low to the ground. Chaparral gilia, blue dicks, miniature lupine and popcorn flowers are fading but have some interesting seed pods still to show. Some huge chalk dudleya reside along the trail as well. There are spectacular vistas of Orange County’s wildlands as you ascend the ridges.

The word from recent visitors to the Santa Rosa Plateau in Riverside County is that annuals and geophytes are blooming nicely, and it is an excellent time to hike the trails! The Sylvan Meadows Trail and the Vernal Pools Trail are good places to see some iconic Plateau species. Various oaks have fresh new foliage and are in flower. They provide a lovely canopy along some pathways. The California peony is tucked near and under protective chaparral shrubs and are just starting to bloom. California golden violet, milkvetch, Southern checker bloom and great numbers of blue dicks can be found in open, sunny areas along trails. The regal Mission manzanita is past bloom, but just starting to go to fruit. Check out their bountiful bunches of copper-red berries.

A short, easy hike along the Pacific Crest Trail at Crowder Canyon in the busy Cajon Pass near Phelan, will delight you with an array of spring blooms. You will encounter a lovely mix of Mojave Desert and chaparral flowering perennials and annuals. Lots of ceanothus, are still in flower along with narrowleaf goldenbush and bush poppy, Fiddleneck, goldfields, chia, and phacelia are blooming, though somewhat patchy in occurrence. Also find decent numbers of baby blue eyes, miniature lupine, bajada lupine, Mojave Desert parsley, California butterweed, blazing stars, and blue dicks.

Driving around Lake Kaweah in the southern Sierra foothills east of Visalia, the landscape is transitioning from early to mid-spring bloom. Eastwood’s fiddlenecks are fading, and the hillsides are shifting from deep gold to brilliant yellow as the madia comes into flower. Surprisingly early this year, the harbingers of summer—speckled clarkia are already starting to make bold splashes of pink on the sunnier slopes. Amidst the pinks and yellow, are occasional patches of orange foothill poppies and pale blue fiesta flowers. Here and there, purple pagodas in their royal purple cloaks, add to this colorful oak woodland landscape. Annual lupines of two varieties, spider lupine and miniature lupine decorate the roadsides and slopes in varying shades of blue. Around the lake, the silver bush lupine floral show is fading as their developing seed pods are growing fat and plump. Taking their place on rocky and shadier north-facing slopes are the bold yellow bush monkey flowers. Drive slowly to see that amongst the monkey flower, clinging to tiny rock crevices, are hundreds of canyon dudleya. Glowing with their bright orange candelabra-like blooms, they stand out dramatically against their chalky-white foliage. Most of the rock faces preferred by these two plants along with mats of rock lichens, display a burnished deep orange-red color making for quite an impressive presentation. There are also local geophytes in full bloom, including pink twining brodiaea [broh-dee-ah], buttery yellow pretty face and purple Ithuriel’s spear. While there are not a great number, this is one of the best places to find the elegant, and arguably the “queen” of Calochortus—pink fairy lanterns. Also coming into mid-spring bloom on sunny slopes and trails are diminutive blooming Heermann's golden sunburst, bird’s-eye gilia, tom cat clover and mustang clover.

A few weeks ago, we reported on the devastation left by last summer’s Lake Fire on Figueroa Mountain in the Los Padres National Forest. Notably, poppies and lupines were emerging from the blackened landscape. While many mature trees and shrubs perished, the wildflower display currently is beyond belief! Look for regional fire-following annuals, including fiesta flowers, chia, goldfields, globe gilias, blue dicks, Mariposa lilies, miner’s lettuce, red skinned onions, various phacelias, silver puffs, chocolate lilies, yellow monkeyflowers, sky lupines, wallflowers California golden violets and many more. Some perennials are making their way back as well. Look for silver bush lupine, California buckwheat and bush poppy. Make the effort to visit before the weather gets hot.

The iconic colors of California—the rich golds and blues—are unfurling through the gardens at the Theodore Payne Foundation. Joining the California poppies, fiddlenecks, sunflowers, and California sun cups are, this week, the Palo Verde trees now in glorious bloom. This palette of yellow gold is now coupled with desert bluebells, chia, several sage species and the electric blue showy penstemon. Cheery yellow blossoms of bush sunflower, canyon sunflower and Nevin’s barberry are brightening up pathways elsewhere. Trekking up Wildflower Hill adjacent to the sales yard, you will encounter fragrant Cedros Island verbena, woolly blue curls, and California four o’clock. Enjoy this explosion of color and by the way, many of these can also be purchased at the TPF plant sale this weekend!

Welcome to the Theodore Payne Foundation’s 42nd year of the Wildflower Hotline. The Hotline offers weekly on-line and recorded updates on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A. Please support the Wildflower Hotline today at theodorepayne.org/donate.

The annual Open House events are scheduled at Prisk Native Garden for the next two Sundays, April 6th and April 13th from 1 to 4 pm. Please attend one of the Sunday dates or both! Visitors will learn about the 30-year-old Garden on a school campus in Long Beach that has a mission to engage children in nature’s joyful and restorative experiences. Overnight seemingly, because of mild warm temperatures following mid-March rain, there are colorful blossoms everywhere, with more coming each week. In addition to the ubiquitous California poppies. Arroyo lupine, and tidy tips, there are lovely patches of five-spot, mounds of baby blue-eyes, Mojave bluebells, and various fragrant sages. Dorr’s sage, for example, brings home the wild aroma of the high desert in spring bloom. Many members of the cactus family are beginning to pop in the Desert Wash section. The claret cup cactus and Engelmann's hedgehog are beaming with blossoms! Elsewhere, look for meadow foam in the shadier, moister areas. Shrubs in all the garden habitats have been flowering profusely, including Island bush poppy showing off their large, yellow flowers set upon elegant gray-green foliage, or hot pink flowers of fairy duster beaconing passing hummingbirds. This is just a tiny taste of the Garden’s color palette. Next week on Sunday April 13, these bountiful blooms and hopefully many more will be available for viewing for the second Open House event.

A great place to enjoy a recreational spring fling is Pinnacles National Park. Signs of spring are everywhere. The geography of the park provides raptors with ideal nesting sites, both on the inaccessible cliffs, craggy rock formations and on the oaks and pines along the riparian corridors. Although some of the trails are closed during peak nesting season (check park website), you may spot prairie falcons, golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, and American kestrels to name a few. Entering the park at the Eastern portal, you can’t help but notice the large perennial silver bush lupines peppering the landscape. Depending on the trail you choose, and there are many, early spring flowers can be seen throughout the park. The blue-purple blue witch is common in the chaparral. Look there too for Fremont’s star lily growing among the grasses and under chaparral shrubs. The deep shade cast by oaks and other riparian trees give refuge to the shade loving California saxifrage, purple pagoda, small flower woodland star and fiesta flower. All of them like to hang out in shady areas with the sunlight filtering through tree canopies. Find them now along the Bench Trail or occupying meadows like those along the Rim Trail. Also preferring grassy, open areas but in sunnier locations, are baby blue eyes and cream cups It’s impossible to choose the “cutest” flower in California but cream cups, seen along the North Wilderness Trail, would be a contender. Each creamy petal grades to a buttery yellow at the center where you find a pom-pom of filaments and stamens.