Natural History Wanderings

from California Native Plant Society

Whether you’re walking in the sandy expanse of the desert or across a treeless plain, the ground beneath your feet in California is never empty. It can be home to millions of seeds, each just waiting for the right conditions to germinate.

Many of these seeds are wildflowers. As one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, California has tremendous native plant diversity, which includes a dazzling variety of annual spring blooms. Sometimes the conditions are just right for an epic abundance of these flowers—a phenomenon popular culture calls a “superbloom”—when the growth is so colorful and vast that it has been seen from space. This is a rare event anywhere in the world, and we are lucky to have it occur in our own backyard.

Why do we have such gorgeous annual wildflowers that live for a short spring season before going to seed? It has to do with California’s special climate. It makes more sense for these flowers to be annuals with a seasonal life cycle. That way they don’t have to survive the state’s hot and dry summers. They can instead leave a new generation, in the form of seeds, to spring forth in the coming years.

Enjoy Responsibly!

1. Stay on trails to protect the wildflowers and their seeds.
2. Respect the local community by following signs and rules.
3. Take only photos.
4. Leave no trace. Pack out trash, and let Mother Nature set the scene.

See the wildflower guide and read more at   California Wildflowers Your guide to spring wildflower season