Sue & Craig's excellent wildflower adventure .
April 5-6 and May 3-4, 2003 San Luis Reservoir near Los Baños,
Gorman, California (I-5 in Tehachapi Mtns.),
Mojave California Poppy Preserve near Lancaster,
and Desert Dandelions in the town of Boron, California.
Copyright © 2003 Craig & Sue Dremann, all right reserved including the web.
Our niece Katie, learning that all of the grasses that turn brown in the summer in California, are from Europe.
John Muir saw these exact same flowers above when he passed over Pacheco Pass in the 1800's---he described a whole valley-full as he looked over the pass into the Central Valley---today, there are only a few square yards left.
Here are before-and-after pictures: After the European grasses take over.
Above are California poppies growing wild along N2 in the Leona Valley.

A few feet away, the European foxtails are taking over, killing all the poppies forever.
If you travel through California in April, when the native wildflowers should be blooming, you unfortunately see how few specs of the original California native ecosystems are left. We need to try and preserve RIGHT NOW the few specs that are left.