The Big Bloom. Come along on an armchair tour of Southern California’s amazing wildflower “super bloom” of winter 2018/2019. We start, with a day hike through the rolling wilds of Riverside County, accompanied by a scientist who a California wildflower expert. We visit Anza Borrego Desert with a local naturalist, explore the fringes of urban Poway, and accompany field biologists monitoring wildflowers and other plants repopulating fire-ravaged Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Everywhere we go, you’ll be amazed and delighted by the diversity of annual flowers in explosive bloom. Pinks and, oranges, purples and yellows, blues, golds, and whites blanket the desert floor and show up in patches amidst the chaparral and coastal sage scrub. Their bright blooms shine against the charcoal covered mountains, already showing a fringe of recovery green. Along the way, we learn how and why big blooms happen, see the pollinators whose presence ensures seeds for the plants’ future generations, and learn how to protect the fragile ecosystems while enjoying the beauty of the big blooms.
Anza Borrego State Park http://www.parks.ca.gov/anzaborrego/
Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association https://www.abdnha.org
Naomi Fraga http://anabaena.net
Harford Springs Reserve https://www.rivcoparks.org/harford-springs-reserve/
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area https://www.nps.gov/samo/index.htm
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