The Wild Flower Hotline

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Foundation Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates — posted each Friday from March through May — on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California.

All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Foundation Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates — posted each Friday from March through May — on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California.

All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.

0:24 Irish Hills Natural Reserve, San Luis Obispo

1:15 Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) from Barrel Springs, to Warner Springs, San Diego County

2:14 Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, San Diego County

For the full illustrated report, visit our website.

0:55 Pinnacles National Park (Coast Ranges)

3:14 Heaps Peak Arboretum (San Bernardino)

4:21 Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park (Orange County)

For the full illustrated report, visit our website.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Foundation Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates — posted each Friday from March through May — on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California.

All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Foundation Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates — posted each Friday from March through May — on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California.

All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Foundation Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates — posted each Friday from March through May — on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California.

All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Foundation Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates — posted each Friday from March through May — on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California.

All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.

Welcome to the Theodore Payne Foundation’s Wild Flower Hotline. The Hotline offers weekly on-line and recorded updates on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A.

Let’s stay close to home this week. These are easy trails with lots of shade or coastal breezes.

Narrated by Tom Henschel, the Hotline offers weekly on-line and recorded updates on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A.

Don’t forget to buy your tickets for the Native Plant Garden Tour, taking place April 11th and 12th. Tickets are available online at store dot theodore payne dot org, in-s...

Discover where California’s wildflowers are putting on their best show this week. From coastal sage scrub to desert canyons, this episode guides you to the season’s most vibrant blooms.

Narrated by Tom Henschel, the Hotline offers weekly on-line and recorded updates on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A.

Don’t forget to buy your tickets for the Native Plant Garden Tour, taking place April 11th and 12th. Ti...

The Hotline offers weekly on-line and recorded updates on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A.

View the full report at theodorepayne.org.

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...

In Southern California, the valleys and foothills are fading, leaving behind fruit and seed for next year’s germination. Above 4000 feet in elevation however, many spring wildflowers are just coming into glorious bloom.

Back in March when we first reported on the wildflower awakening on Figueroa Mountain in the Los Padres Nation Forest, there wasn’t hope for a super display this year. A wildfire had scourged the area in July of 2024. Certainly, some post fire annuals would show up, but with so much devastation and little winter rainfall, it was thought that wildflowers would be s...

May 16, 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 Southern California, the valleys and foothills are fading, leaving behind fruit and seed for next year’s germination. Above 4000 feet in elevation however, many spring wildflowers are just coming into glorious bloom.

Manzanitas and ceanothus species have faded from their bloom in most regions of Southern California below 3500 feet. In San Diego county’s Laguna Mountains, however, manzan...

This Mother’s Day weekend, treat Mom to a wildflower walk at one of our local gardens.

Spectacular blooms are on view now at the California Botanic Garden. Heading up the list of unusual colors is the sulfur yellow Conejo buckwheat. Electric and royal blues, bright pinks, and lavenders are represented by several penstemons and an array of sages. Pretty but prickly are colorful hedgehog cactus, cholla cactus species, prickly pear cactus and beavertail cactus. Evening primrose, phlox species, yucca and agave are quite dramatic even if they are dressed “only” in white blossoms!

At t...

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 re...

Since the report earlier this month, many more blooms have popped up at Casper’s Regional Park in Orange County. Along the Dick Loskotn Trail, look for patches of Catalina mariposa lilies in the grasslands, along with San Diego jewel flower and Padre’s shooting stars. Wild canterbury bells prefer sunnier slopes along with a few showy chaparral yucca. Not far from the West Ridge Trail boundary, you will find a large, blooming clematis vine. There are others nearby, but this one clematis is particularly grand with stunning flowers begging to be photographed. On the Starr Rise Trail, search for...

Driving around Lake Kaweah in the southern Sierra foothills east of Visalia, the landscape is transitioning from early to mid-spring bloom. Eastwood’s fiddlenecks are fading, and the hillsides are shifting from deep gold to brilliant yellow as the madia comes into flower. Surprisingly early this year, the harbingers of summer—speckled clarkia are already starting to make bold splashes of pink on the sunnier slopes. Amidst the pinks and yellow, are occasional patches of orange foothill poppies and pale blue fiesta flowers. Here and there, purple pagodas in their royal purple cloaks, add to this colorful oak woodland land...

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. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A. Please support the Wildflower Hotline today at theodorepayne.org/donate.

The annual Open House events are scheduled at Prisk Native Garden for the next two Sundays, April 6th and April 13th from 1 to 4 pm. Please attend one of the Sunday dates or bo...

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. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A. Please support the Wildflower Hotline.

The annual Open House events are scheduled at Prisk Native Garden for the next two Sundays, April 6th and April 13th from 1 to 4 pm. Please attend one of the Sunday dates or both! Visitors will learn about th...

Friday, March 28 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. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A. Please support the Wildflower Hotline.

The herbaceous perennials, woody shrubs, and trees have leafed-out and are blossoming well following the mid-March rain events. A few hardy annuals have started to appear like goldfields, fiddlenecks, po...

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. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A.

Millions of years ago, a series of volcanic eruptions shaped the landscape that is now Pinnacles National Park. The remnants of these ancient eruptions have formed a striking terrain of rocky spires and deep canyons. Visitors can explore diverse environments, from chaparral an...

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. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A.

Millions of years ago, a series of volcanic eruptions shaped the landscape that is now Pinnacles National Park. The remnants of these ancient eruptions have formed a striking terrain of rocky spires and deep canyons. Visitors can explore diverse environments, fr...

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. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A.

Entering mid-March, wildflower season remains quiet. Recent rainfall may bring relief to some drought-stricken areas, and annuals may awaken later this month. Rain will certainly benefit the spring bloom of perennial and woody natives. Annuals, however, are a bit more persnickety about th...

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. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in L.A.

Along the Mariposa Trail in the Irish Hills Natural Reserve in San Luis Obispo County, wildflowers are beginning to exhibit an early bloom. Colorful specie s should add to the display over the next few weeks if predicted storms release more life-giving ra...

Hear weekly recorded wildflower reports, narrated by Tom Henschel. New reports are released every Friday, March through May.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles.

Hear weekly recorded wildflower reports, narrated by Tom Henschel. New reports are released every Friday, March through May.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles.

Hear weekly recorded wildflower reports, narrated by Tom Henschel. New reports are released every Friday, March through May.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles.

Hear weekly recorded wildflower reports, narrated by Tom Henschel. New reports are released every Friday, March through May.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles.

Hear weekly recorded wildflower reports, narrated by Tom Henschel. New reports are released every Friday, March through May.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles.

Hear weekly recorded wildflower reports, narrated by Tom Henschel. New reports are released every Friday, March through May.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles.

Hear weekly recorded wildflower reports, narrated by Emmy Award-winning actor Joe Spano, the Voice of the Wild Flower Hotline. New reports are released every Friday, March through May!

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles.

Hear weekly recorded wildflower reports, narrated by Emmy Award-winning actor Joe Spano, the Voice of the Wild Flower Hotline. New reports are released every Friday, March through May!

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles.

Hear weekly recorded wildflower reports, narrated by Emmy Award-winning actor Joe Spano, the Voice of the Wild Flower Hotline. New reports are released every Friday, March through May!

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles.

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.The Hotline is meant to help people enjoy the unique and beautiful nature of Southern California. While super blooms are a beautiful and awe-inspiring natural phenomenon, they are...

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.The Hotline is meant to help people enjoy the unique and beautiful nature of Southern California. While super blooms are a beautiful and awe-inspiring natural phenomenon, they are...

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.The Hotline is meant to help people enjoy the unique and beautiful nature of Southern California. While super blooms are a beautiful and awe-inspiring natural phenomenon, they are...

The acclaimed Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.The Hotline is meant to help people enjoy the unique and beautiful nature of Southern California. While super blooms are a beautiful and awe-inspiring natural phenomenon, they are...

The acclaimed ⁠Theodore Payne⁠ Wild Flower Hotline, founded in 1983, offers free weekly online and recorded updates – posted each Friday from March through May – on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California. All locations are on easily accessible public lands and range from urban to wild, distant to right here in Los Angeles. We balance the spectacle of annual flower displays with perennial plants and their spring color.The Hotline is meant to help people enjoy the unique and beautiful nature of Southern California. While super blooms are a beautiful and awe-inspiring natural phenomenon, they are also del...