Blooming Fields : Outings Suggested for Viewing California Wildflowers

All around Southern California, the curtain is rising on this year’s springtime show of colorful wildflowers.

This is the best month to see this glorious display, although blooms this year are later and more sparse than usual because of scant rainfall and an exceptionally cold winter. Still, there are plenty of locations where you can see wildflowers, especially in moist coastal areas and at some Southland botanic gardens, where patches of wildflowers are seeded and irrigated.

What follows is a sampling of places to find wildflowers near Los Angeles. To learn more about the flowers, join one of the nature walks offered at each location.

Whether you are alone or with a group, remember that wildflowers are a fleeting annual treasure for all to enjoy. Look, but don’t pick.

Theodore Payne Foundation, 10459 Tuxford St., Sun Valley, (818) 768-1802. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Free.

Walk up the hillside trail at this 21-acre nursery. Non-native plants have been carefully weeded from this hill so that native flowers can grow without competition. At the top of the hill, you’ll be rewarded with the sweet fragrance of ceanothus (California lilac).

Below, you can buy wildflower seeds or seedlings of more than 500 species of California native plants. The foundation is dedicated to the propagation and preservation of these plants. Stop by the office to pick up a set of “Exploring Wildflower Country” maps and a 1989 nature calendar. Call the foundation’s 24-hour hot line, (818) 768-3533, for a weekly update on wildflowers in bloom.

Charmlee Natural Area County Park, Encinal Canyon Road, Malibu, (213) 457-7247. Open daily, 8 a.m. to sunset. Free.

You get a double viewing treat at this bluff-top park--a close-up look at wildflowers in a wide meadow and long-range vistas of the ocean below. Stop first at the nature center to check the blackboard for a list of flowers that have been sighted recently in the park. Pick up a trail map at the center and head across the meadow. Wildflowers bloom in a thick carpet on the meadow’s gently rolling hills, symbolic of nature’s regeneration following a fire in 1985. See if you can spot the chaparral currant, Indian paintbrush and California peony along the trail.

Point Mugu State Park, 9000 W. Pacific Coast Highway (4 miles north of the Ventura County line), (805) 987-3303, (805) 488-1827. Open daily, dawn to dusk. Day-use fee, $4 per car.

Despite the drought, it’s a fine year to see the giant coreopsis in bloom along the coast, and the trail up La Jolla Canyon at Point Mugu is one of the best places to see it.

To see the oversized plants, start your hike at the Ray Miller trailhead on Pacific Coast Highway and continue along La Jolla Valley Trail. You’ll find coreopsis blooming near a walk-in campground with picnic tables and restrooms about 1 1/2 miles along the trail. Join a ranger-led walk every Saturday at 9 a.m. for a narrated tour of flowering areas.

Eaton Canyon Park, 1750 N. Altadena Drive, Pasadena, (818) 794-1866. Nature center open Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. Park open dawn to dusk. Free.

Located at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, Eaton Canyon is an easily accessible swatch of wilderness. Along hiking trails through chaparral and oak woodlands in the 184-acre park, you’ll see a good variety of wildflowers.

The flowering season is expected to peak in the canyon at the end of this month. To learn about the park’s wildflowers, take a free family nature walk, offered every Saturday at 9 a.m.

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, 1500 N. College Ave., Claremont, (714) 625-8767. Open daily, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Free.

More than 1,500 species of native California plants thrive in this 85-acre, naturally landscaped garden. The garden is divided into several settings reflecting California’s geography. Along the Riparian Trail, you will find hundreds of California poppies, as well as blue-eyed grass and meadow foam.

The Desert Garden features nearly all California cactus species, as well as succulents and desert shrubs. This month and in May, you might plan your visit for 2 p.m. on a Sunday, so you can join a guided garden tour. A gift shop has a number of books on California flora.

Crystal Cove State Park, on Pacific Coast Highway 1 mile north of Laguna Beach, (714) 494-3539. Open daily, 6:30 a.m. to sunset. Day-use fee, $4 per car.

Wildflowers thrive along most trails in this oceanfront park. Stop at the park’s nature center at El Moro Canyon for information about the flowers. Rangers there will help you find and identify the park’s two rare and endangered wild plants, Turkish rugging and multiflowered dudleya. Hike a trail from the center into the canyon to see bright-orange monkey flowers, fuchsia-flowered gooseberry and Indian paintbrush. Rangers lead hikes on some Saturdays and some Sundays at various times; the Crystal Cove Interpretive Assn. offers walks the third Wednesday of every month.

Santiago Oaks Regional Park, 2145 N. Windes Drive, Orange, (714) 538-4400. Open daily, 7 a.m. to sunset. Day-use fee, $2 per car.

Visit the 1930s-style nature center near the parking lot to see photos of flowers in this 125-acre wilderness park. Two quarter-mile trails near the nature center offer colorful displays this month and next. The Windes Trail follows an easy loop up the hill. On a clear day, take the branching Pacifica Trail to the top of the hill to see more wildflowers and a bonus view of northern Orange County and downtown Los Angeles. Along the trail you may spot golden fiddleneck, ground pink and blue fiesta flower. Be on the lookout for snakes as the weather warms up. Rangers lead nature walks on Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m.

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara, (805) 682-4726. Open daily 8 a.m. to sunset. Free.

Stop at the garden shop for a guide to five miles of trails in this 65-acre hillside and canyon garden. And this month, visit the meadow nearby to see blue-eyed grass, lupine and California poppies. Walk up the Porter Trail across the road from the parking lot to find manzanita in flower, plus ceanothus and (in June) white matilija poppies. There’s a free 1-hour tour every Thursday and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. There are also walks every Monday from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m.

Moorten’s Botanical Garden, 1701 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, (619) 327-6555. Open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Adults, $1.50; children 5-16, 50 cents; age 4 and under, free.

Nature trails meander through a growth of cacti and succulents. Some plants are about 300 years old. On a self-guided tour this month or next, you will see pincushion cacti with red and yellow blossoms, colorful bromeliads and blooming paloverdes. Ask owner Patricia Moorten for a free map, which shows locations of wildflowers in the Coachella Valley.

Living Desert, 47-900 Portola Ave., Palm Desert, (619) 346-5694. Open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed June 16 through Aug. 31. Adults, $5; ages 6-15, $2; 5 and under, free. Seniors 62 and over pay $4.50.

Six miles of trails wander through this 1,200-acre desert preserve. A large sand dune seeded with wildflowers is located near the ethnobotanic garden. You will also find many cacti and succulents. After touring the grounds, visit the nursery to see or buy native seedlings.