You know it is out of the ordinary in scale and grandeur if it can be seen from space. However, unlike the Great Wall and others that have withstood the test of time, the images of the wild flowers carpeting the hills, valleys, forests, canyons, and deserts of California, are ephemeral.
Californians are rejoicing this year’s massive ‘super bloom’ of wild flowers that has transformed the arid region into something out of an artist’s imagination. They are thronging to the hotspots to take in the riot of colours before the summer and caterpillars change the landscape once again. The explosion of wildflowers that has swept across large swathes of southern California, is a result of an unusually wet winter. It is best viewed from March to May.
Though every year spring blooms make an appearance, this year is special, as such a variety and intensity of flowers has not been seen in the last decade. It is nothing short of a miracle as California had been grappling with drought for years that had leached all moisture and depleted water reservoirs, turning the landscape palette into a dusty brown.
Who would be immune to the charms of flower-speckled meadows? I scrolled enviously through eye-popping photographs of orange poppies awash in Walker Canyon near Los Angeles, and violet, gold and orange-hued flowers covering the Carrizo Plain National Monument and Los Padres National Forest in southern and central California. But I live in San Diego, at the very border with Mexico, and the closest place from my home where the wildflowers are best viewed is the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, which is generally a hot and arid space marked by sweeping desert vistas, cacti, and the occasional sightings of bighorn sheep.
We made our way to the desert early on a Saturday morning in the middle of March, the vehicle twisting through the hills that flank the coastal city before descending into the desert terrain. Though we had left early in the morning, it quickly became clear that we weren’t the only flower pilgrims who made an early start. The last few kilometers were spent inching forward at a snail’s pace as the sun steadily climbed in the sky sending the temperature soaring.
The Anza Borrego desert was just as I remembered from a previous trip, with one major difference. Even though we were just at the mouth of the park, I could spy green foliage over the desert lands punctuated with yellow, white, and purple flowers, the heady smell of thousands of blossoms impregnating the air.
Armed with a sun hat, sunglasses, water, and a map, we set off to locate the most Instagram worthy shots. We were rewarded within just the first 10 minutes. I stood gawking, as bang in the middle of a desert I was facing a field of brilliant orange and yellow flowers that stretched all the way to the base of the mountains in the distance.
The map informed us that a wide variety of flowers had bloomed in different parts of the desert, and I could identify golden poppies and sunflowers, delicate white desert lilies and dandelions, yellow evening primroses, jaunty purple lupines, and clusters of pink sand verbena. There were a multitude of flowers as far as eyes could see, and even the cacti were in full bloom, as were my favourite ocotillo whose flowers erupt a fiery red.
I walked amidst the flowers, trying not to crush any under my foot while the searing sun beat down on us mercilessly at just 10 a m. This, I thought, is the most glorious example of how water is indeed the elixir of life. It can make even dead lands come alive, renewed and reinvigorated, and show us a glimpse of the very best of nature.
