California’s landscapes are already bursting with color, spawning rumors that this spring may produce a statewide “superbloom.” While that’s not a scientific term, it’s a fitting name for the occasional years when over-the-top floral displays blanket the Golden State’s deserts, coastline, valleys, and mountain ranges.
As you plan your flower field trips for the coming weeks, be sure to brush up on your petal-peeping etiquette: Stick to established trails, never pick wildflowers, and no matter how much you want that close-up shot, don’t step on vulnerable plant life.
Southern California Wildflowers
Los Angeles County
Perched on Malibu’s northwest edge, Point Mugu State Park is a perennial winner for wildflowers. In March and April, hike the La Jolla Canyon Trail or the Ray Miller Trail to admire purple lupine, golden poppies, white mariposa lilies, and giant yellow coreopsis draping the coastal hillsides.
To see blooms in the nearby desert parks—Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, Anza-Borrego, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, and more—check out our guide to California desert wildflowers.
Inland Empire
If you’re planning a Temecula wine-tasting trip, tack on a visit to nearby Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, home to Southern California’s finest remaining bunchgrass prairie. In February and March, the reserve’s vernal pools are ringed by yellow goldfields and purple downingia. Hike the Trans-Preserve Trail to see California poppies, purple shooting stars, and burgundy chocolate lilies.
Forty miles north in Chino Hills State Park, drive Bane Road or walk the Bane Ridge Trail to find California poppies, arroyo lupine, and canterbury bells. Check Facebook and Instagram for bloom updates.
The best source to track locations for Southern and Central California wildflowers is the Theodore Payne Foundation. The foundation’s wildflower hotline goes live on Friday, March 6, and is updated every Friday from March through May with weekly recorded wildflower reports; phone 818-768-1802, ext. 7.
Central California Wildflowers
San Francisco Bay Area
Expect to find wildflowers blooming throughout the Bay Area from late February through May. These are a few top spots for petal-peeping:
Point Reyes National Seashore: Every spring brings a bonanza of blooms to Point Reyes. To see myriad species in one place, walk the Chimney Rock Trail, which traces along a dramatic, narrow peninsula above Drakes Bay. You’ll easily spot poppies, owl’s clover, tidy tips, lupines, and mule’s ears, but keep a close eye out for pussy’s ears near the trail’s end. These low-growing, light purple flowers are draped in dense, fine, cat-like hairs, which protect them from cold temperatures and water loss.
Russian Ridge Preserve: Flower lovers flock to this ridgetop paradise on the San Francisco Peninsula to see orange poppies and blue lupine painting the grasslands like a Monet masterpiece. After these beauties fade, they will be replaced by mule’s ears, brodiaea, and farewell-to-spring, which continue to blossom into May. Flowers are visible almost anywhere at Russian Ridge, but the popular Bay Area Ridge Trail delivers the best show as it rises to Borel Hill’s grassy summit.
Sonoma Coast State Park: Drive or hike anywhere along the coast from Bodega Bay to Jenner, and a bounty of flowers will wow you. From the Shell Beach parking lot, follow the Kortum Trail along the shoreline or the Pomo Canyon Trail to Red Hill to find a colorful array of species lighting up the coastal grasslands. And a big bonus: those blue Pacific vistas.
San Luis Obispo County
The Central Coast provides some of the state’s easiest flower-viewing. A drive along Shell Creek Road in Santa Margarita delivers eye-popping displays of orange poppies and sky-blue lupine. Near San Luis Obispo, Montaña de Oro State Park lives up to its name—“mountains of gold” refers to carpets of California poppies, the state flower.
To the north in Cambria, Fiscalini Ranch Preserve is also draped with poppies, plus perennial bloomers like seaside daisy, bush lupine, and California sea pinks. If you have a full day, drive 60 miles east to Carrizo Plain National Monument, where the ridges of the Temblor Range glow with technicolor swaths of lupines, goldfields, tidy tips, owl’s clover, and hillside daisies.
Santa Barbara County
The flanks of Figueroa Mountain put on a dependable wildflower show every year, due in part to the peak’s rain-catching elevation (4,528 feet). In April and May, take a scenic drive up the flanks of “Fig Mountain” from Solvang or Los Olivos to see buttercups, milk maids, sky lupines, and California poppies, plus wide-angle views of the Santa Barbara backcountry.
To see even more flowers, hike the Grass Mountain Trail near Midland School, where meadows are carpeted in wine-colored chocolate lilies, magenta shooting stars, scarlet Indian paintbrush, and many other flowers. Closer to downtown Santa Barbara, Rattlesnake Canyon Trail shows off rock rose, Indian paintbrush, morning glory, and more.
Northern California Wildflowers
Sacramento and Gold Country
Northern California’s inland hills and canyons are primed to put on a colorful show this year. These spots are worthy of a special trip:
North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve: Flowers have already started showing off on this elevated basalt mesa near Oroville, and in the coming weeks, it will be covered in goldfields, California poppies, sky lupine, meadowfoam, and owl’s clover. Table Mountain, which was formed by ancient lava flows, stores rainwater in its porous rock, resulting in vernal pools and even an ephemeral waterfall.
Jepson Prairie Preserve: In early spring, thousands of tiny wildflowers paint Dixon’s landscape in splashes of yellow, purple, and white. This preserve, 35 miles southwest of Sacramento, protects one of California’s few remaining native bunchgrass prairies, where more than 400 species of plants thrive. After winter’s rains, you’ll find vernal pools ringed with tiny, vivid flowers.
Stevens Trail: The foothills town of Colfax boasts one of the Gold Country’s most flower-diverse trails, a 4.5-mile route that descends to the banks of the North Fork of the American River. The farther downhill you hike, the more flowers you see: Look for Chinese houses, bush monkeyflower, California poppies, and several varieties of lupine. Bring snacks and ample water, and save some energy for the uphill return.
Auburn State Recreation Area: Early bloomers are already popping throughout the American River canyon, and by mid-March, the flowers will be out in full force in the Gold Country town of Auburn. See dozens of species at almost any river pullout or picnic area, or take a hike on Stagecoach Trail (start from Russell Road), Windy Point Trail (start from Iowa Hill Road), or Codfish Falls Trail (start at Ponderosa Way).
Sierra Nevada Mountains
The bloom moves upward as the mountains rise in elevation, so wildflower season in the Sierra’s highest peaks starts much later (June and July) than in its river valleys (March and April).
Hite Cove Trail, Mariposa County: Ten miles west of Yosemite National Park’s El Portal entrance, this historic path skirts along the South Fork Merced River canyon. Gold was found here in the 1870s, but today’s visitors are more likely to find a motherlode of flowers. More than 60 species bloom in the grasslands, including goldfields, lupine, poppies, brodiaea, monkeyflower, shooting stars, fiesta flowers, fairy lanterns, baby blue eyes, and Indian pinks.
Carson Pass, south of Lake Tahoe: In July, hundreds of people hike to Winnemucca Lake every weekend, and it’s not just because the lake is so stunningly beautiful. This high-elevation, volcanic landscape is a mecca for flower fans. Expect to find a vibrant tapestry of lupine, mule’s ears, scarlet gilia, Indian paintbrush, and more.
Eastern Sierra
Along U.S. 395 in the Eastern Sierra, the wildflower season may last for a full six months. Spring blooms begin as early as mid-February in the low-elevation Owens Valley, when photographers make pilgrimages to Bishop to shoot patches of blue flag irises dotting the meadows.
In regions like Tioga Pass, where the mountains rise above 10,000 feet, and the snow sticks around till June or July, wildflowers may bloom as late as August. In mid-summer, drive Highway 120 uphill from Lee Vining to Tuolumne Meadows to see the magenta penstemon known as “pride of the mountains” brightening the roadsides.