May 16, 2025

Welcome to the Theodore Payne Foundation’s 42nd year of the Wildflower Hotline. The Hotline offers weekly on-line and recorded updates on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California.

In Southern California, the valleys and foothills are fading, leaving behind fruit and seed for next year’s germination. Above 4000 feet in elevation however, many spring wildflowers are just coming into glorious bloom.

Manzanitas and ceanothus species have faded from their bloom in most regions of Southern California below 3500 feet. In San Diego county’s Laguna Mountains, however, manzanitas and ceanothus are still putting on a spectacular show especially along the Garnet Peak Loop trail. I’ll add a note that the Pacific Crest Trail connects here in the Laguna Mountains as well. One scenic route to arriving to the Garnet Peak Loop trail is travelling along SR76 south from Palomar Mountain. Flowers along the south side of Palomar are mostly done. Clearly spring is mostly over there. However, starting in Santa Ysabel Valley to Julian, spring is still going full blast. Somehow the blue chaparral whitethorn is still blooming gangbusters there. Fields of cream cups and lupine are painting the landscape with pastel colors. The yellow lupine or California golden banner is in bloom in a field just before Julian and just past Julian, the white palmer’s ceanothus is in glorious full bloom. There are a few patches of goldfields just above Lake Cuyamaca, and some stunning areas of redbuds along Sunrise Highway. Also spotted is serviceberry in full bloom near the beginning of Garnet Peak Trail at Sunrise Highway. One month ago, there were essentially no flowers in this area, and very little annual germination. An amazing transformation occurred in the last month, to have tons of flowers here! On the Garnet Peak trail, the star bloomers are cupped leaf ceanothus and chaparral whitethorn producing slopes of white from the cupped leaf ceanothus and rivers of blue from the chapparal whitethorn. Close to Garnet Peak, pink bracted manzanita with its deep pink flowers, joined the show. There are also good patches of Eastwood manzanita in bloom in several places along this route. Garnet Peak is covered with rocky slopes of Laguna Mountain goldenbush, an endemic species to this area. There are abundant annuals and perennials in places. Close to the trailhead there are baby blue eyes, strigose lotus, coastal gilia, and Washoe phacelia among others. Garnet Peak was beautiful now, so make the trip soon.

With a massive bloom of speckled clarkia, spring is winding down in the foothill country of the southern Sierra. Intermingling with the speckled clarkia, the spring madia are still in bloom. Also, prominent both along the highways and the trails, are the fragrant California buckeye, an abundance of bright yellow rock bush monkey flower and creamy white blooms of blue elderberry. Along oak grove trails one will still find colorful patches of mustang clover and the elegant Ithuriel’s spear. While the speckled clarkia is the one most impressive, two other farewell-to-spring species are found here and announcing the long hot quiet summer season: elegant clarkia and the lovely four spot clarkia.