California desert wildflowers

I never consider myself an expert on wildflowers.
Oh, I know a few – poppies and lupine – are my favorites.
On Saturday we drove out to the Poppy Reserve – the only one in the state of California – to see how the poppies were doing.
“It’s going to be a good year,” said one volunteer. “We can see the flowers all over the hillside. In about two weeks they should be blooming.”
It was a blustery 45 degrees with the infamous wind blowing. So, we got in a good walk, but no flower watching. I’ll be patient.
Then in the early evening, we went to the Prime Desert Woodland in Lancaster, to hear a lecture by Mark Bratton, biologist from Edwards Air Force Base. Along with his Power Point presentation, I took notes – four pages of names of wildflowers I did not know, nor had ever heard of.
Am I now an expert?
Hardly. BUT I am much more knowledgeable about what grows in what I used to think as the sere landscape of the desert.
Mark told us about Goldfields, Desert rhubarb, purple owl’s clover, Red Rock Gold Poppies, the Desert Paintbrush with its red, showy flowers.
The different kinds of cactus included Cotton Top Cactus with its yellowish flowers, the Pencil Cholla, Silver Cholla and the Beavertail Cactus with is magenta flowers.
One lady in the audience kept asking if the flowers being shown were edible. I hope she kept notes on the ones that were really poisonous such as the Jimson Weed.
“The desert wildflowers are interesting,” said Mark, “for they have a pretty big seed bank. Seeds can stay dormant for 10 years. This year many of the plants are smaller because of the lack of rain at the right time.”
It was an interesting evening because Eileen McAllister who manages the Prime Desert Woodlands had samples of the Joshua tree seeds and a cut limb that showed how fragile this member of the lily family really was.
The Prime Desert Woodland has excellent programs of all sorts including lectures on woodland animals, plants and stars. Located at 43201 35th Street West (K-8 & 35th St West), it’s right in the heart of the suburbia. Check out the programs at www.cityoflancasterca.org