Laura Cohen pulls out a tiny composition book and scribbles madly as we meander through Laguna Canyon Wilderness Park.
She is busily, energetically, joyfully chronicling the triumphant return of the spring wildflowers that practically disappeared from the canyon — and much of Southern California’s other parched wild spaces — in the past few years.
What a difference a few inches of gentle rain makes. This spring the hills are different. Better. Wetter. So lush that Laguna Canyon looks like someone rolled out the green carpet. The blooms seem to multiply overnight and Cohen’s flower journal grows daily with them, the park naturalist’s excitement palpable with each new speck of color bursting amid the grasslands and coastal sage scrub.
Cohen leads the way as we savor stands of willowy coast sunflowers swaying in the afternoon breeze near a couple of inviting picnic tables. Another flash of sweet yellow catches the sun and our attention: small violets called Johnny-Jump-Ups. We stop to watch a hummingbird gorge on flaming orange monkey flowers, then we roam past fuchsia-flowered gooseberry plants, white popcorn flowers, tangles of prickly wild cucumbers, and purple phacelia poking out between the rocks. Farther up along the trails, bright ruby poppies dance along Serrano Ridge. In all, Cohen catalogs more than twenty different wildflowers. Her prized discovery: delicate pink clumps of owl’s clover. “It’s very rare,” she says, “one of my favorite plants.”
Across Southern California, from coastal fields and hillsides to the desert’s sprawling wild lands, botanists and park rangers and flower lovers of all species are reveling in the best wildflower season in recent memory. It’s a great time of year to pack a picnic lunch and just wander.
I wrote about Southern California’s wildflowers for the Los Angeles Times Magazine this weekend and you can read the story here.
Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, of course, is a magical place any time of year. Other wildflower spots include the California Poppy Reserve in the Antelope Valley; Anza-Borrego Desert State Park; and Joshua Tree National Park. The wildflower season is expected to last into May.
