Fair to Middlin' Flower Season

Rains have been average or a little below over most of Cali this year, but good moisture in February has resulted in a decent flower season in the desert. I traveled from Tehachapi to Borrego Springs today and stopped at the Poppy Reserve. There is a good crop of poppies coming up but the wind was howling about 15-30 mph so many of the flowers were not open. I did see this golden river flowing down a hillside that was sheltered from the strongest gusts.

On the eastern side of the Antelope Valley near Saddleback Butte, I came across this patch of Goldfields in a nice setting. Flowers blooming in a usually barren desert are just more impressive than in wetter climates.

This shot near the Poppy Reserve shows a wall of clouds jammed up against the Tehachapi mountains to the northwest...blow up the pic for more detail. The cool air rushing down the lee slopes of the mountains created a Bora effect, thus the chilly windy weather in the Antelope Valley.

These are red maids, in the Santa Rosa Plateau preserve near Temecula. It's run by the Nature Conservancy and is a haven for beautiful Southern California oak woodland that has virtually disappeared in the massive urban sprawl. Yes, I know they're not red...the color in the pic is accurate. Don't know how they got their name.