We have had lots of rain in the Bay Area which you would think produced a plentiful wildflower bloom. It seems the invasive grasses respond profusely to the rains. But you can still find among them plentiful colors and the California golden icon – the POPPY. The California Poppy is solid orange and the Coastal Poppy is a two tone – yellow and orange flower. (and my favorite). Blossom by Blossom we bloom again and again.
Although we don’t have carpets of poppies like you find in the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, but you can find wonderful patches on the hillsides, sand dunes and highways providing ample samples of beauty. Abbott’s Lagoon and Kehoe Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore are good locations for the Coastal Poppy and Mt. Diablo for the California Poppy.
California Native Americans cherished the poppy as both a source of food and for oil extracted from the plant. “Its botanical name, Eschsholtzia californica, was given by Adelbert Von Chamisso, a naturalist and member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, who dropped anchor in San Francisco in 1816 in a bay surrounded by hills of the golden flowers. Also sometimes known as the flame flower, la amapola, and copa de oro (cup of gold), the poppy grows wild throughout California. It became the state flower in 1903. Every year April 6 is California Poppy Day, and Governor Wilson proclaimed May 13-18, 1996, Poppy Week.â€
Please be sure to see my “Poppy†portfolio.
Because I was off to visit my dad in Schenectady, New York, I didn’t have much time to be out and about with my camera. But just yesterday morning I saw a wonderful pattern in my kitchen. The morning sun was shining and coming through a plastic cup on the sink’s edge. I was attracted to the pattern that was cast as the light came through the glass.
Adding a blue piece of construction paper beneath the cup created the feeling of “waves.â€Â These little details create wonderful abstracts. “It is astonishing how short a time it takes for very wonderful things to happen.†– Francis Burnett