2003: A Season of California Wildflowers - Yosemite, San Bernadino Mts, Kernville

While my wife and I were settling in in southern California, winter was dropping just the right amount of moisture on places that would respond with explosions of rainbows. By March we were finding these floral explosions near and far; no matter where we went, from San Diego to the western Mojave to Pismo Beach and back down again, there were wildflowers to greet us. In April, after visiting many of the same areas more than once, we traveled further north, up to the western side of Yosemite. Though we got snowed on, the lower elevations were in bloom.

As usual, roads were lined here and there with wildflowers. We found Purple and Woolly Milkweed, Chinese Houses, Bush Lupine, madia species, Mustang Clover, Fairy Lanterns, Speckled and Winecup Clarkia, Mountain and Douglas's Violets, Tomcat Clover, Harlequin Lupine, Pallid Owl's Clover, Royal and El Dorado Larkspur, Snowplant, Gray Mules' Ears ... a rainbow of colors; a who's who of wildflowers.

And it was during this trip we began to see Mariposa Lilies, and we would continue to see an ever-changing variety of them throughout the rest of the spring. Eventually we would see Yellow Mariposas and Catalina Mariposas and Butterfly Mariposas and Leichttin's Mariposas and Plummer's Mariposas and probably many more I couldn't I.D. They were a festive parade of blossoms jostling with innumerable other blossomy parades on Main Street, which stretched across the California landscape.

A May trip to the San Bernadino Mts. provided us a couple of sedum species, Fare-well-to-spring, lots and lots of sweetly scented Spanish Broom, Five-spot, and a Grape Soda Lupine subspecies that had adapted to the harsh dry conditions there. In fact, it was so dry there, we figured that by now, as we headed into June, the wildflowers had to be on the decline.

Wrong.

We had another go at Kernville and the area to the north, hoping for some mountain meadows, green and full of life, the consequence of snowmelt higher up. Not only did we find a bit of that, but many drought tolerant species were blooming defiantly in the sandy soil, thumbing their stigma at the hot sun.

The dusty wildflowers we found included Prickly Poppies, Harlequin and Bigelow's Monkeyflower, Golden Ear Drops, Gunsight Clarkia, Azure Penstemmon, Scalebud, Desert Christmas Trees, Scarlet Gilia, Purple Mat, Desert and Indian Milkweed, Coyote Mint, Leopard Lilies, and Wind Poppies. In the lush mountain meadows we found Sierra Rein Orchids, Green Rein Orchids, Stream Orchids, Giant Red Paintbrush, Bigelow's Sneezeweed, Narrow-leaved Milkweed, Marsh Skullcap, Jeffrey's Shooting Star, and Blue-eyed Mary's.

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