Wildflower Safaris: California and More Early Blooms

Last week I wrote: "It's a blustery winter day in central Ohio; snow flurries whip around furiously, biting at my face like a rabid dog with bad dental work. And to think, just a few days ago I was driving down the Oregon coast, into the central valley of California, where winter has nothing to do with metaphoric rabid dogs or blustery snow flurries. Out there, the polished glow of west coast sunshine is generously ladled over the landscape, and early blooms brighten roadsides, flashing motorists with glimpses of bare, naked color. There may even be a few suggestive ententes whispered." And I mentioned the Long Beach peninsula of southern Washington and a trip across the country and Gorse and Scotch Broom, the first two wildflowers of our early February trip. And though I had promised my wife some wildflowers during the trip, she was skeptical. She believed in UFOs and a second gunman before she believed there would be any early blooms. Even those first two didn't make an impression. After all, they were a couple of non-native rogue peas.

The Wild Radishes (Raphanus sativus) and sundry other Mustard species (Brassicaceae) we began seeing in northern California didn't make an impression on her either. I was thrilled of course, and not just because of these wildflowers, mundane though they were; I was thrilled because we were back in California, the land of my dreams. Sure, we were just driving through on our way to ... eventually ... Ohio, but it was like running into an old friend who hadn't changed one little bit, bringing to mind memories of past glories as well as the possibility that we could recapture a bit of that old magic.

I love California. I have faith in California. I was certain, once we got down below Bakersfield and cut over toward the southern Sierra Nevadas and the Mojave Desert, we would see more wildflowers. My faith was well-placed.

Eventually Fiddlenecks (Amsinckia intermedia) turned up, an early season harbinger of botanical glories to come. And there were California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica) here and there, the state's gloriously beautiful state wildflower. And then there were a few Popcorn flowers (Plagiobothrys nothofulvus) scattered about, another early season harbinger. And then, driving east out of Arvin, heading up to the higher elevations which would takes us to the Mojave, I saw it, the familiar purple and blue spike of a lupine.

I yanked the Jeep onto the side of the road, jammed on the emergency brake, leapt from the vehicle, raced to the patch of lupine and dropped to my knees, tears welling up in my eyes. Lupine ... in California ... the land of my dreams ... I was home.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic