Mindful stewardshipīut along with the breathtaking natural beauty comes a responsibility to act as a mindful steward of the delicate plants and environment.Ībove all, Quigley stressed that keeping on the marked trails is critical to ensuring that the unfurled flowers stay open as long as possible. “The hotter it gets the faster it goes,” he said. However Quigley suggested moving fast, as flower season has already peaked and the clock is ticking. Other native flowers to keep an eye out for especially in coastal areas includes the bright-yellow California goldfields, white beach strawberry flower and the stacked purple lupine flower, among many more. Hawley recommended taking the park’s redwood loop trail where it is popping up “all over the place” while also noting that the northward Castle Rock State Park is another flower-packed forest region with plenty of trails. The diminutive redwood violet flower – which is actually bright yellow – is also making its presence known in a big way beneath the soaring canopy at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, where raging fires ripped through the forest almost three years prior. For those looking to make discoveries while on a brisk hike, she said many of the backcountry trails that were closed at the park due to recent winter storms have opened once again. Hawley said the bright orange glow of California poppies has blanketed the landscape at Wilder Ranch State Park. Lupine bloom in the East Glenwood Open Space Preserve in Scotts Valley. While Quigley said Santa Cruz doesn’t have the desert-like conditions that are ideal for the sprawling and diverse features of a traditional superbloom, the heavy rains are helping to awaken an avalanche of colorful flowers. “The quantity of flowers is good, but it’s the massive amount of species blooming simultaneously over a period of weeks or maybe a couple of months,” he said. “All those seeds that have been sitting underground for two or five or 20 years finally have the right conditions to come up.”Īt a super bloom in Death Valley National Park some years ago, Quigley said a local botanist told him they were finding species that hadn’t been seen for 40-50 years. “A super bloom is one where not only the quantity of rainfall is more than normal, but the timing is perfect,” said Quigley, specifying that this typically means significant rainfall episodes sometime close to November and January. UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and Botanic Garden Executive Director Martin Quigley explained that the conditions have to line up just right to awaken such a high number of annual plant seedlings that grow, bloom, set seeds and die all in one year. Wild radish is flourishing near Wilder Ranch. Hawley, who has lived in the county for more than 35 years, took a trip to San Francisco this week using the circuitous Highway 1 route and said she saw more flowers along the roadway than she has seen during any previous bloom. “We’re in for quite a show this year and it has already started,” said Bonny Hawley, executive director of Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, an operating partner of California State Parks. While the images in Santa Cruz County may not be gigantic enough to catch the eyes of astronauts in space – as other areas are known to have done – local experts say there’s no shortage of beauty to behold in the county by the coast. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)Īn exceptionally wet winter has fed dormant seeds resting in the region’s previously parched soil and has helped produce a massive proliferation of blooming flowers that have adorned the state from top to bottom. Poppies and wild radish flower along a trail at Wilder Ranch State Park. It must be “superbloom” season in California.

Noses are runny, eyes are itchy and the landscape is suddenly painted with massive amorphous streaks of orange, yellow and purple. SANTA CRUZ - The rain has subsided and the sun is out.

Time out san francisco july