THE SUPERBLOOM CONTINUES: Spring Wildflowers in Gorman, CA

Poppies and Lupins on the hills of the Tejon Pass, Gorman, California

California’s torrential rains this past winter have produced the most spectacular bloom of wildflowers in years. From the deserts of Anza Borrego and Joshua Tree National Park to the Poppy Preserve in the Antelope Valley to people's back yards, flowers are everywhere. (See Gretchen Woelfle’s recent guest post 4/15/2019.)

California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
It grows wild throughout California, and became the state flower in 1903.

While the giant fields of poppies at lower elevations in Southern California have been replaced by sage and other less colorful vegetation, the hills and valleys at higher elevations are still blooming. At the Tejon Pass through the Tehachapi Mountains near Gorman, the hills look like they’ve been painted with a giant brush–orange for poppies, blue for lupins, yellow for goldfields.

Lupins (Lupinus albifrons)

On Easter weekend, as we headed north on I-5, we took the bypass on the local road through Gorman for a closer look at the flowers. Here are a few of the many flowers we found growing near the road.
The superbloom continues!

Fiddlenecks (Amsinckia menziestii)

California chickoree (Rifinesquia californica)

Bladderpod (Peritoma arborea) also known as Burrofat

Clusters of California poppies sprout like giant bouquets amid the grass.