California’s Spring Super Bloom

The super bloom in California this year comes on the heels of a rainy winter. Flowers blanket hills, canyons, deserts, and parks. The super bloom 2019 is the most widespread in at least a decade, and crowds are flocking to see the beauty. I decided to check out Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego, which is just about a mile from my house. Here, nearly 6000 acres surrounding the San Diego River bed offer a nature preserve in the city. While I do enjoy all the gardens in my neighborhood, there is something super-amazing about wildflowers. They spring up without cultivation and make our world a more lovely place. Here’s what I found at Mission Trails.

The California poppy is a major part of the super bloom. Aren’t these cheerful flowers?

Here’s one of the mountains in the park, South Fortuna. Yellow hillsides are rare in San Diego. So we locals just love to drink in a sight like this.

The terrain in Mission Trails is desert and rock. Some clumps of sunflowers spring right out of the rocky banks.

I love the contrast of the rocks with the fragile flowers.

I’m not great with names of flowers, so I went in the visitor’s center. The friendly volunteer chatted about what’s in bloom now and what’s still to come. And he provided me with a brochure so I can look up different kinds of plants.

One of my favorites has the funny name of Monkey Flower.

These petite flowers are Blue-Eyed Grass. And the white ones are Morning Glories.

I still don’t know the name of this one, but I love it! I’m partial to purple.

The yucca are in full bloom. I’m always reminded of the underlying desert when I see these. They are also called Our Lord’s Candle.

This rosy yucca rising against the gnarly tree trunk caught my eye.

Clumps of Black Mustard bloom everywhere. These are officially a “weed,” but I think they do their part to brighten a landscape.

The river is quite full (this is wide for the San Diego River, believe me!). This is the central part of Mission Trails, where the Kumeyaay Indians lived. You can still see grinding holes in these rocks.

I do love hiking around in Mission Trails any time of year. This is the first I’ve seen super bloom here, though, and I could hardly keep my eyes off the hills.

The California Sunflower has a black center; the San Diego Sunflower has a yellow center. I thought they were daisies. I learned a lot in one morning.

How about you? Is anything fun blooming in your world?

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