Wild Flower Hotline May 2, 2025

Welcome to the Theodore Payne Foundation’s 42nd year of the Wildflower Hotline. The Hotline offers weekly on-line and recorded updates on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California.

In the Coast Ranges of California at Pinnacles National Park, mid-spring wildflowers are popping up along the many trails available to visitors. Maybe you will be surprised with a glimpse of a rare California Condor circling above! A fun plant easily spotted in open sunny areas is gray mule ears growing in large patches. The name appropriately describes the large, fuzzy leaves that resemble big floppy ears. The wind poppy are found in shady foothill areas. Their bright orange flowers balancing on a single long stem stand out in the shade The pretty purple winecup clarkia is widespread in the Park and supports a wide range of pollinator species, so you will likely encounter a number of colorful insects as well as colorful flowers.

Wildflower enthusiasts are flocking to Figueroa Mountain in the Los Padres National Forest. Notably, the poppy display currently is beyond belief! The Lake Fire last summer charred the landscape, but colorful annuals came roaring back. Look for a number of fire- follower species like fiesta flower, chia, goldfields, globe gilia, blue dicks, Mariposa lily, miner’s lettuce, red skinned onion, various phacelias, silver puff, chocolate lily, yellow monkeyflower, sky lupine, wallflower, California golden violet, and many more. Some perennials are making their way back as well including silver bush lupine, California buckwheat, and bush poppy. Make the effort to visit before the weather gets hot.

At the Theodore Payne Foundation, showy penstemon is a prolific bloomer decorating TPF's gardens in vivid purple. Also exciting, the first of the Matilija poppy flowers have opened along the parking lot and are inviting visitors to explore more in the garden. Chia can be found blooming around the demonstration gardens, Wildflower Hill, and the sales yard along with California brittlebush, common sunflower, and many sage species. Both prickly pear and beavertail cactus are in bloom and very showy.