​     The scale is what makes visiting wildflower areas so astounding.  A patch of poppies a couple of feet across is impressive.  But extend this to several full hillsides or an entire miles-wide valley, and add the breezes animating them, the brilliantly blue sky, the puffy white clouds, and the absolute silence except for the chirping birds and humming bees, and the immersion swallows you up.  As Huell Howser would have said, “It’s Amazing!”
     Here are photos from some of the day trips we made over the last several weeks to a couple of the sites detailed on the Theodore Payne Foundation Wildflower Hotline, http://theodorepayne.org/education/wildflower-hotline/.  Hope you too can enjoy some of them before the hot weather dries them up – higher elevations will hold more blooming delight!
 
Carrizo Plain National Monument
A three-hour drive from Pasadena, north on I-5 just past the split with route 99, west on route 166 to Maricopa, continuing south on route 166/33, then west on Soda Lake Road for about 30 miles (much of it firm but unpaved and washboard road) to the Guy Goodwin Education Center, which has a garden identifying many of the flowers you’ll see along the route.  Another 15 miles takes you to route 58 to loop back to I-5 or continue further west to San Luis Obispo.  
 
Highway 101 between Carpinteria and Ventura
On our way home the long way round from Carrizo to San Luis Obispo, we came down the coast on route 101 and were amazed to see the entire set of hillsides awash in brilliantly chartreuse mustard grass, with the southernmost hill all in poppies.
 
Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve
A 1.5-hour drive from Pasadena north on I-5, going east on route 138 just south of Gorman (which had no color yet), and traveling about another about 20 miles to the Preserve.  We prefer going in this loop direction, rather than to Lancaster first and then west, for nicer lighting on the colorful hills.
 
Joshua Tree National Park
A three-hour drive from Pasadena, east on the I-10 freeway past the turnoff to Palm Springs and just before Chiriaco Summit.  The exit north is Cottonwood Springs Road, which becomes Pinto Basin Road and then Utah Trail near Twenty-Nine Palms.  Most of the blooming ocotillos and other flowers were located at this southern end of the monument, and the chollas about 20 miles up, so we returned back to the I-10 instead of continuing up to Twenty-Nine Palms.
 

​   All that winter rain has become blooming and eating wonders in our gardens. Aside from the assorted greens – bok choy, broccoli, chard, kales, and lettuces -- that we’ve been enjoying all winter, now there are artichokes and peas and beets to center our meals and munchies.  And the blooms!  Nasturtiums and the first bearded irises and roses and a monster 8-foot-tall succulent.  Yay for Spring!
 
Artichokes
   Five different varieties of artichokes have given us a real taste-test treat. So far, one seems dry , whereas another has more flavor, and a third has more flesh.  All provide a great excuse to enjoy mayonnaise, although I’ve been “needing” less because the flesh is tastier.
  
Peas
   My husband prefers the peas he must shell, eating only the little internal nibblets.  I grow several varieties – Burpeanna Early, Cascadia, Frosty, Little Marvel, Sabre, and Wando.
   I prefer the sugar snap type, eating the entire pod.  I depend on Sugar Snap and Super Sugar Snap, planting two cages worth.  I also grow an additional cage of the dwarf versions - Sugar Daddy and Sugar Ann.  But the fruits from the taller plants I’ve found to be more succulent and plentiful, although the plants are more gangly and therefore need a second story of my cages. 
 
Perfect Transplant Weather
   Our daytime temperatures of high 70s and nighttime temperatures of high 50s continue to be perfect weather for transplanting.
   I just planted several new bearded irises and echiums and mimulus (the more drought-tolerant ones).  My technique is this:
1.      Transplant in the late afternoon, when the sun is low in the sky.  This timing will enable the plant to recuperate overnight from the transplanting procedure before being subjected to direct sun the next day.
2.      Dig a hole a foot wide and a foot deep.
3.      If transplants have roots growing in potting mix, massage and “tickle” the root ball to release most of it into the hole. 
4.      Mix this mix with the soil dug from the hole.  This will provide a “half-way house” of native soil and potting mix for the roots to grow in as they adapt to their new home.
5.      As you hold the transplant in the air, the roots now dangling down, rip off any straggling roots that are longer than the main concentrated clump that’s about 3 or 4 inches in size.
6.      Scoop out about half of the mixed soil from the hole.
7.      With one hand, hold the transplant in the hole so the root clump hangs straight down in the hole.
8.      With the other hand, scoop the mixed soil around the root clump so that the transition point from roots to stem is about one inch below the remaining soil. 
9.      Rearrange mixed soil and native soil to form a berm or “donut” around the transplant so the watering hole is about 1 inch deep and 6 inches out from the plant stem.
10.   With fingertips, press mixed soil in the hole around the root clump.
11.   Fill “donut” with water three times to assure that it’s fully moistened the entire extended root zone area.
12.   If the plant is tender, provide a piece of cardboard or fencing to shade it from the mid-to-late-afternoon direct sun for a week or so.
13.   In 2 days, fill the “donut” again.
14.   In another 4 days, fill again.
15.   From then, water as necessary depending on your soil and the weather.