Wild Flower Hotline May 30, 2025

Just in time to get a mention in the last report of 2025, two exquisite new plants serendipitously blossomed this week in the Theodore Payne Foundation gardens. One is the Humboldt lily a tall, slim beauty arising from a bulb and growing sometimes to 8 feet. It is bejeweled with large orange flowers stippled with maroon splotches. Watch the hummingbirds flock to it! The other plant starting to bloom in the garden is mock orange. The perfumed citrusy fragrance beguiles visitors to swoon over masses of lovely white blossoms extended from long, arched branches. It is a handsome shrub and one of California’s most fragrant plants. Other areas of the gardens still have perennial favorites blooming into late spring, early summer including the ever-cheery sunflower, showy penstemon, Matilija poppy, and our favorite flower from early spring through early summer, the California poppy.

In the foothills of the mighty Sierra Nevada, when the landscape fades to a golden brown and the wildflowers have mostly progressed to seed, up pops the harvest brodiaea through the spent flowers and grasses. This deep purple charmer emerges from underground bulbs and zillions of them brighten up the drying landscape like the last fireworks of a celebration event. Harvest brodiaea is the true harbinger of summer. After an industrious spring for flowers, pollinators and curious posy peepers, the days of rest draw near and longing for next spring begins.

At Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, the Airplane Monument Loop Trail is filled with flowers, despite this being a half-normal-rainfall year! The cute little summer snow carpets the ground along much of the route. This is an amazing place for all gilia species. A total of five different species can be found including pink angel’s gilia, blue globe gilia, volcanic gilia and purple spot gilia. Best surprise though, white fairy lanterns are in bloom in great numbers everywhere along the route. Cuyamaca is an easy and pleasant hike. If you never explored this gem of a State Park, do so now while so many annual wildflowers are still in bloom.