All Over the Bloomin’ Place

It’s late spring, that lusty, romantic time of year, when each day ends with a simple question: Did I admire a castor bean today? Or a California buttercup, rusty popcorn or even a scarlet monkey flower?

Take your pick. This is a great time of year to view big, blooming wildflowers in local parks and wilderness areas. Though the odd weather patterns this spring mean a late-blooming crop, April’s heavy rains could make May a heavenly time to spot colorful patches of local wildflower favorites.

Here is a list of the parks and preserves where the wildflowers are. Choose a sunny day for best displays, though you never really know how good the bloom will be until you get there.

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Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, 33401 Ortega Highway, San Juan Capistrano. Hours: 7 a.m. to sunset, daily. Parking: $2; $4 on Saturday and Sunday. (949) 728-0235.

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Adjacent to Cleveland National Forest, this public park is covered with chaparral, with trees and bushes growing near creeks.

The wildflower count was down early in the season, said park ranger John Gannaway, although like many of the local parks, Caspers could get colorful again within the next few weeks. “When conditions are good, you can definitely see some blue-eyed grass, Indian paintbrush, monkey flower, popcorn flower, fiddleneck, lots of poppies and some lupin popping up,” Gannaway said.

Gannaway named the East Ridge Trail as a good hike for wildflower viewing, along with the Star Rise Trail, where a few weeks ago, Gannaway saw a huge explosion of poppies and at least 15 other varieties. “It all depends on the weather,” Gannaway said.

“But some rain, like we had, along with a good week of sunshine, usually means a lot of wildflower growth.” The 7,600-acre protected wilderness preserve is a popular campground destination, with several trails offering optimum views of wild vegetation.

Mountain lion warnings are always in effect. Nature walks are offered on weekends by appointment.

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Carbon Canyon Regional Park, 4442 Carbon Canyon Road, Brea. Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Parking: $2 weekdays, $4 weekends. (714) 996-5252.

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Not only does a stroll on the nature trail at Carbon Canyon offer prime viewing for wildflowers, the park is also adjacent to Chino Hills State Park. “It’s two-for-one for people who like flowers,” said park ranger Raul Herrera.

“We’ve got the normal stuff, the monkey flowers, two or three varieties of fiddleneck, the blue-eyed grass, three different varieties of lupin, a lot of baby blue eyes, Mariposa and phacelia. We also have people who look a little deeper, and find miner’s lettuce. It’s short, about 6 inches in height, and looks a little like a miniature pond lily, green with white flowers in the center.”

Herrera said another eccentric variety is the wild artichoke thistle, a tall, spiny flower with a purple bloom. “If people venture over to Chino, they get even more of a choice,” Herrera said. “This has been a really good wildflower season for both of the parks. The rains have helped.”

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O’Neill Regional Park, 30892 Trabuco Canyon Road, Trabuco Canyon. Hours: 7 a.m. to sunset, daily. Parking: $2. (949) 858-9365.

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This charmed spot in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains has many faces. The area near the main entrance allows for views of neighboring suburbia, but take one of the many trails leading to the 3,100 acres of woodlands and grassy meadows, and come face-to-face with nature.

The park, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, boasts dozens of wildflower varieties, including sharp-tooth sanicle, tomcat clover and the ever-popular California poppy. Several trails lead to good viewing ground, with Raccoon Ridge along the Coyote Canyon Trail a bountiful path.

As a side trip, try the Arroyo Trabuco trails and wilderness area that runs south of the park. No trip to O’Neill is complete without a hike to one of two refreshing waterfalls, Holy Jim Falls and Falls Canyon.

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Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, Portola Parkway and Market Street, Foothill Ranch. Hours: 7 a.m. to sunset, daily. Parking: $2. (949) 589-4729.

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This giant acreage is a haven for nature lovers, a hiker’s paradise and a wildflower catchall. More than 1,500 acres and multiple trails offer the opportunity for spectacular viewing, especially in the areas around Borrego and Serrano canyons.

“Our wildflower population is doing quite well,” park ranger Ron Slimm said last month. “We expect May to be even better.” The Whiting Ranch loop trail is known for large spreads of poppies and clover, and along with the flowers, the trail is apt to offer numerous forms of wildlife, including deer and several species of birds. “Our most popular flower is probably the sticky monkey flower,” Slimm said. “We also have Indian paintbrush, bush sunflower, popcorn plant and mustard. Everybody likes mustard.”

Slimm said by avoiding the bottom of the canyon at the park, where there is less sunlight, wildflower-viewing trips are better, and will become even more so when Whiting Ranch finalizes the addition of nearby Limestone Canyon to its property in the next several months. For wildflower tours, call the Whiting Ranch Nature Conservancy, (714) 832-7478.

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Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, 20101 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Hours: Open for docent-led tours, see hours below. Parking: Free. (949) 494-9352.

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Most sections of this expansive land, once scheduled for home construction but now protected as part of the South Coast Wilderness, must be seen by guided tour, though there are certain trails open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every first and third Sunday of the month.

Every Saturday, there are 3 1/2-mile, docent-led hikes with eye-opening views of the Pacific Ocean, and wildflower activity, said park ranger Barbara Norton. ‘This is definitely not one of our best wildflower seasons, but the rain we’ve had means May could be very good,” Norton said.

“Everything is about a month behind, but we have several different blooming periods. The monkey flower, for instance, is adaptive to heat, and can bloom well into the summer.” Seen in abundance during peak season are the tulip-styled Mariposa lily, blue-eyed grass, blue dicks, popcorn, sages, common fiddleneck, milkmaids, fuchsia-flowered gooseberry, Indian paintbrush, wild cucumber and buttercups.

On a good day, flowers in white, pink, purple, orange and red cover the park. Other wildflower displays can be seen nearby in the more-than 19,000-acre South Coast Wilderness area, including Aliso & Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, home of the Orange County Natural History Museum; Crystal Cove State Park; the Irvine Company Open Space Reserve and the Laguna Beach Open Space.

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Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve, Pacific Coast Highway, between Seal Beach and Huntington Beach, at Warner Avenue. Parking: Free. Hours: Open while daylight. (714) 846-1114.

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Known mostly for its preservation of wetlands opposite Bolsa Chica State Beach, the preserve is a notable destination for wildflower lovers also interested in migratory shorebirds, seabirds and waterfowl.

“Wildflowers are one of the smaller delicacies here, but they are abundant to the area,” said Adrian Morrison, executive director of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy. “We don’t get only bird people here, we have a lot of plant people. The exciting thing about these wildflowers is how different they are than what you might see elsewhere, and we work just as hard to preserve them as we do the wildlife in the area.”

Ready for viewing at Bolsa Chica are the lilac-colored sea rocket, the low-growing yellow beach primrose and the showy lavender verbena, along with heliotrope and telegraph weed.

“The nature of these flowers is that many bloom throughout the summer,” Morrison said. “We also have an abundance of ice plant, which, of course, is not native to the area. One of the goals of the conservancy is to replace the ice plant with native flowers.”

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More wildflower spots of note:

Rancho Mission Viejo Land Conservancy, (949) 489-9778. Irvine Regional Park, 1 Irvine Park Road, Orange, (714) 633-8074. Peters Canyon Regional Park, 8548 E. Canyon View Ave., Orange, (714) 538-4400. Santiago Oaks Regional Park, 2145 N. Windes Drive, Orange, (714) 538-4400. For Southern California wildflower information outside Orange County, call the Theodore Payne Foundation wildflower hotline at (818) 768-3533.