By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer
The sun is out, and so are the flowers. Go find them. It's not hard. Lots of people are willing to point you in the right direction.
desert verbena at Anza-Borrego. Photo by Larry Ulrich
The Theodore Payne Foundation, for starters. You can call their Wildflower Hotline, 816-768-3533 to find out what's popping where this minute. Or visit their website. Or, if you live in LA, at least drop by and see their wildflower hill.
Writer/photographer Carol Leigh's California Wildflower Sheet is also great. Fellow wildflower fiends give very specific details re what they've seen and where.
Live near Santa Barbara? Check out the Santa Barbara Hikes website for wildflower sightings.
Or just head to anywhere there is still a patch of wild land. You'll find something in bloom. I spent last weekend in Catalina. I didn't see any masses of flowers like the ones in Anza-Borrego scene above. But the whole island was gorgeously green.
And there were little sprinklings of wildflowers all along our four-hour hike. It was enough to convince me to get out again next weekend and the one after that and the one after that. Because wildflower seasons like this one don't happen every year.
Want to go now? Find help for planning your Catalina trip here.
