Welcome to the 29th Annual Wildflower Hotline, brought to you by the Theodore Payne Foundation, a non- profit plant nursery, seed source, book store, and education center dedicated to the preservation of wildflowers and California native plants. This is the Friday, April 15th report. New reports will be posted each Friday through the end of May. The warm weather we have been waiting for has arrived, but brings with it a mixed blessing. Flowers at lower elevations will now quickly fade, but others we are eager to see for the first time are just beginning their spring bloom. This next week is California Native Plant Week, so do get out to celebrate the flowers! At the Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach the early spring favorites are closing their show for the year as mid to late spring flowers are getting ready for their opening act. Hummingbirds are eagerly waiting a turn at the nectar-filled flowers of the fuchsia-flowered gooseberry (Ribes speciosum), chaparral currant (Ribes malvaceum), coral bells (Heuchera spp.), bladderpod (Isomeris arborea) and scarlet bugler (Penstemon centranthifolius). The butterflies are hanging out at their favorite nectar bars—the California encelia (Encelia californica), buckeye tree (Aesculus californica), and Conejo buckwheat (Eriogonum crocatum). Driving east from Orange County over the Santa Ana Mountains through Cleveland National Forest on the Ortega Highway (74), enjoy a salute to the red, white and blue. Flowering all along the canyon walls are several kinds of blue and white flowering ceanothus (Ceanothus spp.) and bright red paintbrush (Castilleja sp.). Pull off at any of the trailheads and take a short hike to get a closer look at these and many other flowers just starting to bloom. With the onset of hotter temperatures in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, annuals in the valley are completing their lifecycles and depositing seed into the soil bank for another year. The succulent cacti and many flowering shrubs and trees will still delight the color-seeking visitor. There are still wildflowers blooming in the canyons, especially on north facing slopes and are a beautiful reward for visitors willing to get out and look for them. The Gander's cholla (Cylindropuntia ganderi) and the silver (Cylindropuntia echinocarpa) cholla are quietly displaying their yellow-green flowers tucked within prickly stems. The barrel cacti (Ferrcocactus cylindraceus) are proudly wearing their crown of yellow flowers. Most noticeably, the hot pink flowers of the beavertail (Opuntia basilaris) and the flaming red blossoms of the hedgehog cacti (Echinocereus engelmannii) will catch your eye dotting the landscape. In Blair Valley, along the Morteros Trail there are some especially nice displays of hedgehog cacti, including at least one plant with 100 blossoms. The parasitic plants are on the prowl throughout the desert. The white rhatany (Krameria grayi) looks like a pile of interlocking thorny twigs most of the year, but when is in flower, it’s quite lovely with its red-purple flowers. The gaudy bright orange dodder (Cuscuta sp.) is an interesting color contrast on the intense blue indigo bush (Psorothamnus schotii). Its tangled bunches of coarse thread-like stems gives dodder its other common name—―witch’s hair.‖ The orobanche (Orobanche cooperi) is an odd looking plant sticking up six inches above the sand, and is aptly named the ―burro-bush strangler.‖ A root parasite on members of the sunflower family, you’ll see it hanging around brittlebush (Encelia farinosa), burro-bush (Ambrosia dumosa) and cheesebush (Hymenoclea salsola). You Orobanche (Orobanche cooperi), photo courtesy of may have to get down on your hands and knees to see its small Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association purple flowers. But don’t stay there too long or you may find yourself a host to this pretty, but insidious little plant. Great photo opportunities are being reported in the northern Park regions of Joshua Tree National Park where Parry’s nolina (Nolina parryi) is flowering. This yucca relative with its six-foot flower stems bearing dense clusters of creamy white flowers provides a dramatic counterpoint to the stark mountain terrain of Joshua Tree National Park. Nolina is blooming on trails around the West entrance and in Queen Valley. For best sightings, drive the Queen Valley Road which is unpaved but accessible to regular autos. The early annual flowers on the low-lying Bajada in the south of the Park are fading to be replaced by blooming brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) and some cacti. Yellow desert dandelions (Malacothrix glabrata), desert senna (Senna armata) and coreopsis (Coreopsis californica) brighten the roadsides in the Pinto Basin and Wilson Canyon. Bladderpod (Isomeris arborea), brittlebush (Encelia farinosa), buckwheat (Eriogonum spp.), desert mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), desert paintbrush (Castilleja angustifolia), Mojave mound cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii), desert rock daisy (Perityle emoryi), heliotrope phacelia (Phacelia distans), and indigo bush (Psorothamnus schottii) can be seen dotting the rocky slopes throughout the Park. Lining the washes, pale yellow scalebud (Anisocoma acaulis), Wallace’s woolly daisy (Eriophyllum wallacei) and desert star (Monoptilon belloides) show their bright little faces from their sandy frames. Driving north on Hwy 395, watch for the stirrings of spring bloom. In the Alabama Hills and along roadsides just south of Big Pine impressive patches of the pale yellow scale bud (Anisocoma acaulis) are lining the highway. Apricot mallow, (Sphaeralcea ambigua) and desert paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa) stand out as red buoys in this yellow sea. You have to get out of the car to inspect other flowers including yellow throats (Phacelia fremontii), Fremont gold (Syntrichopappus fremontii), Wallace’s woolly sunflower (Eriopyllum wallacei), sand blossoms (Linanthus parryae), little blazing star (Mentzelia albicaulis) and the dainty little gilia (Gilia sp.). The geology of the area provides a dramatic background for the bountiful flowers. Much more than poppies (Eschscholzia californica) are blooming at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. The grape soda lupine Giant nolina (Nolina parryi), photo credit to (Lupinus excubitus var. hallii) is very showy with blue-purple flower stems the Needles BLM Field Office standing tall above the silvery foliage. The purple owl's clover (Castileja exerta ssp. exerta) is still standing sweet along side the brassy goldfields (Lasthenia sp.), but they are fading fast, so get yourself out to see them. If you are still there taking photos on the trails in late afternoon, try to capture the masses of white evening snow (Linnanthus dichotomus) shining like moonlight along trails. This is a splendid day trip. Coming west on the I-10 from Joshua Tree, stop at Whitewater Canyon Preserve. The canyon slopes lining Whitewater wash are covered with yellow brittlebush (Encelia farinosa). It is one of the best displays of this plant anywhere in the desert. Lining the trails along the wash are baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii), and desert pincushion (Chaenactis sp.) with a few showy bush poppy (Dendromecon rigida) and bush penstemon (Keckiella sp.) standing above them. Start at any trail from the visitor center north along the wash and canyons. Traveling from the desert to the mountains there are sweet little wildflowers blooming at the Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve in the San Bernardino Mountains. The preserve sits on a special substrate called the pebble plains. Most plants growing there are diminutive and you will spend a lot of time on your knees to get good photos, but it is well worth the effort. The tiny plants include Douglas' violet (Viola douglasii), Parish’s rock cress (Boechera parishii) and a cute short shooting star (Dodecatheon hendersonii). Other flowers now include the pygmy flower rock jasmine (Androsace septentrionalis), alkali draba (Cusickiella douglasii), slender phlox (Microsteris gracilis) and much much more! Back to the lowlands in Riverside County visit Harford Springs Wildlife Preserve. All along the trails and in the shade of the preserve’s famous junipers (Juniperus californica) are patches of goldfields (Lasthenia coronaria), baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) and phacelias (Phacelia spp.). Walk among the grasses on the gentle slopes near Ida Leona road to see Fremont’s Lily (Zigadenus fremontii), wild onion (Allium praecox) and blue dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum var. capitatum) with a few sightings of the rare Munz’s onion (Allium munzii). At the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve in south Riverside County, many trails are now experiencing peak bloom. Allow yourself to enjoy a slow-paced walk and be richly rewarded with the expansive and colorful landscape. There are showy displays of yellow-gold Western buttercup (Ranunculus occidentalis), blue–eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum), and pink checker mallow (Sidalcea malvaeflora ssp. sparsifolia). Look for patches of goldfields (Lasthenia californica) blue dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum var. capitatum), California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), and Chinese houses, zillions I’ve been told, (Collinsia heterophylla). It’s OK to brush up against the sticky-leaf monkey flower (Mimulus aurantiacus) along the trail, but watch out for the poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) hiding beside it! With the Santa Ynez Mountains serving as a dramatic backdrop, strolling in the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is a beautiful and leisurely way to view California wildflowers.