So Cal WIldflowers!!

Hey now, give me one more weekend. I promise I'll spend the next dozen or two weekends out hiking. I should be in that area soon enough.

Eugene,

You're excused, since you have a "little" trip planned starting in April. Good luck and I hope it goes well and safe.

Man, I do miss Anza-Borrego. Have a great time out there and please take some photos. It'll help me get my desert fix.

Nick, you really think Gorman will erupt this weekend? I just drove by en route to/from Mt. Pinos this past weekend, and it didn't look quite there yet. Hard to tell from the freeway though.

There are however large drifts of lupine on abundant display all over the southland.

FWIW, my backyard hill is almost hitting poppy peak, with tidy tips, coral bells at peak, and a huge amount of goldfields about to explode; they are my favorite.

On my hill, the lupine has yet to bloom; same with the filaree and phacelia.

Too, all the encelia in my area is reaching for the sun in a big way.

Early desert perennial blooms I spotted in the last month or so include Thamnosma montana, Lotus rigidus, Sphaeralcea ambigua, and some Encelia farinosa just starting.

For anyone commuting along the 210 between Glendale and Pasadena, there's a nice lot of Encelia californica above and along the freeway, and a reallly stunning crop of lupine along the onramp to the 210 east from the Harvey entrance/exit!

Pieter,

It is hard to say. We've had a warm streak recently. But I would bet my the next weekend. I am probably headed out to Borrego this weekend. Not sure where I am going to go the next. But with all the rain this year, it is not a spring to miss.

This warm streak's been wonderful hasn't it? I was starting to get really tired of the rain, although I did really enjoy a day at JT a couple of weeks ago with some sporadic but heavy rain.

From everything I've read or heard, AB is indeed the place to be for flowers right now. I'll be home with my son this weekend, and the following weekend up in the Sierra, so first chance for real wildflower chasing won't be for two more weeks, which should be great for the deserts and woodlands further north of AB.

Please keep us updated as to what you see and where, if you don't mind.

Too bad I am not into photography!! But here are some P&S pictures of my trip this weekend. Hiked away from the crowds, so did not venture into the areas which probably had more flowers.

Reminds me of my trip to Joshua Tree a half-year ago. Thank you for sharing your trip pictures, Nick.

Curse you Californians. We're about to get another winter storm, here…

"Curse you Californians. We're about to get another winter storm, here…"

Move.

Dean,

Tongue in cheek. I know you are a military man. Thanks for all you do for us.

Thanks Nick!

Thanks, cool photos.

I was posting from home this past weekend and I live less than 2 hours from Anza Borrego! So i want to apologize to Nick and all of you traveling abroad who wish you could be here during wildflower season.

To make up for this terribly wasted opportunity, I plan on taking my whole family down there in two weeks. It wont happen again. Great pictures Nick, thanks!