It was a stormy day in San Luis Obispo, but that meant for dramatic skies. Indeed, sunset proved to be an amazing time, with fast-moving clouds and beautiful shades of pink and orange. The non-native grasses, which can be seen in the foreground, are already drying up, despite all the late-season rains we've been having.
First it was a tidy tip explosion, but a return to Shell Creek Road revealed an explosion of lupines.
I returned to Shell Creek Road again yesterday, the third time in several weeks. The wildflowers were still as beautiful as ever. My friend and I did some hiking up into the hills and found a small canyon whose floor was carpeted in these lupines, goldfields, and tidy tips.
The goldfields are going downhill in terms of bloom, but the lupines and tidy tips are still at their peak! With the upcoming storm, the wildflower bloom should be prolonged a week or two.
A view into Los Padres National Forest and Grass Mountain, seen from Figueroa Mountain. Poppies and goldfields are in the foreground, while vast sheets of lupine carpet the distant hills.
As we drove down Highway 58, a dirt path leading off to some ranches caught my eye because of its unusual name: Shooting Star Road. On the way back from Shell Creek, we stopped at this road and saw spectacular masses of goldfields with scattered sky lupines mixed in. No shooting stars, but definitely gold.
The California poppies are in full bloom on top of the Cal Poly "P" ridge. The "P" is a large monument-like letter engraved in the hillside above the Cal Poly campus. The ridge above the "P" is covered in wildflowers right now.
Multicolored carpets at Shell Creek Road...the species you see here include goldfields and owl's clover.
The oaks are just starting to leaf out at Shell Creek Road. The wildflowers, however, are at peak bloom. Wildflowers in this view include tidy tips and goldfields.
Happy Easter everyone!
Yesterday I was at Shell Creek Road in remote San Luis Obispo county. The wildflowers were at peak bloom, with Easter pastels and vivid oranges covered in the color scheme. The tidy tips were the major bloomers, with incredible sheets of the flowers stretching across the valley.
The San Luis Obispo Farmers' Market is much more than just a place to buy fruits and vegetables. You can get culinary delights such as tri-tip sandwiches and teriyaki bowls to churros and strawberry shortcakes like the ones seen in this picture.
This is the fragrant sky lupine, lupinus nanus. It grows in exposed fields and on hillsides all over California. If you drive through the Santa Ynez Valley right now you will see hillsides covered in sky lupine. These blooms were on Figueroa Mountain, just outside of Los Olivos.
Cerro San Luis is a special place. Uncrowded and varied in environs, it's an awesome mountain to climb. The view from the top is spectacular - the morros of SLO county line up and stretch all the way to the Pacific.
