What are all these wildflowers? A guide to 13 blooms you’re likely to see in SLO County
Have you been out to see the wildflower superbloom coloring California’s fields and hills?
Look closely and you’ll find a variety of blossoms bursting in purple, yellow, orange and blue hues.
In 2023, Tribune photographer David Middlecamp and editor Joe Tarica went out to Shell Creek Road off Highway 58, the Carrizo Plain National Monument and elsewhere in San Luis Obispo County to check out what flowers have come out in full force this spring.
Here’s a brief photo guide to 13 common flowers we saw, with information from the California Native Plants Society:
Common goldfields
Common goldfields, or lasthenia gracilis, is a prolific, bright-yellow flower with small blossoms no larger than a quarter. Its blooms typically carpet the ground in huge swaths, giving areas a luminescent look when goldfields are plentiful.
California desert dandelion
California desert dandelions, or malacothrix californica, are found in dry mountain, desert and valley habitats throughout the state. They can grow up to 1.5 feet tall with yellow and white flowers.
Tidytips
Whitedaisy tidytips, or layia glandulosa, are hardy plants in the daisy family with white and yellow petals. They can reach up to 3 feet tall and typically found only in California’s southwestern mountain ranges.
Coastal tidytips
Coastal tidytips, or layia platyglossa, have a distinctive yellow center with white-tipped petals. It can be found in grassy areas along the coast of California.
Fiddlenecks
Fiddlenecks, or amsinckia, are commonly referred to as a weed throughout California. The plant produces flowers with colors ranging from yellow-orange and orange to dark yellow.
California poppies
The California poppy, or eschscholzia californica, is the state’s official flower. Growing up to 2 feet tall, its blooms feature delicate, bright orange petals that are easy to spot anywhere.
Purple owl’s clover
Purple owl’s clover, or castilleja exserta, has a distinctive bloom of clusters of shaggy and small lavender, pink, purple and white petals. The flower is a hemiparasite, meaning it derives some of its nutrients from the roots of other plants.
Lupine
Lupine, or lupinus, is a distinctive flowering plant with many varieties native to California. In the Carrizo Plain National Monument, you may find silver, succulent, sky, chick, miniature, elegant, spider and valley lupine. Each variety grows in a shrub-like manner with flowers ranging in color from blue, lavender and purple, to pink and white.
Douglas’ phacelia
Douglas’ phacelia, or phacelia douglasii, grows along the coastal and inland mountains and foothills of California, as well as the Central Valley and deserts. It can grow up to 1.3 feet tall with pale, pinkish purple flowers.
Blue dicks
Blue dicks, wild hyacinth, purplehead and bordiaea, or dipterostemon capitatus, are small, lavender or blue flowers. They can grow up to 2 feet tall and are found throughout the central and western areas of California.
Great Valley phacelia
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Great Valley phacelia, or phacelia cilata, is typically found in the coastal mountain ranges, the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills. Its blooms of wide, bell-shaped flowers are pinkish purple.
Baby blue eyes
Baby blue eyes, or nemophila menziesii, are a splendid sight of bright blue flowers that can coat the ground in big numbers. The small plant grows up to 6 inches tall and can be found from sea level up to nearly 6,500 feet throughout California.
Variable linanthus
Variable linanthus, or leptosiphon parviflorus, blooms with tiny flowers that are typically pink and yellow. You’ll find these in the coastal ranges and Sierra Nevada, with sprouts up to 9.8 inches tall.
This story was originally published April 11, 2023 at 12:49 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the common goldfields and whitedaisy tidytips to the proper variety.
