Bakersfield Life

Awsome blossoms

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     Anyone who has lived in Kern County long enough is sure to have driven past hillsides and mountains resplendent with yellow, blue and white blooms.      Much like birdwatchers, wildflower observers have much to look forward to as the weather grows warm, the earth turns green and hillsides turn into a palette for nature.     “The timing is the thing. It is different every year, depending on the rains,” Lucy Clark, former president of the California Native Plant Society, said.     The 2010 wildflower season may be have started blooming as early as mid-February, but things are never set in stone when it comes to observing nature.      “The very nature of wildflower observation is a gamble, you’ll always have Vegas odds,” said Alison Sheehey of the Audubon Kern River Preserve and natureali.org. “We have over 2,000 species of plants in Kern County; we’re one of the most diverse counties in the nation.”     The reason for Kern County’s diversity in foliage is due to the fact that within our boundaries we have numerous habitats that bring forth different plant life — from foothills and mid-elevation mountains to the valley floor and high-elevation mountains.     Many things determine what type of season will be seen between the months of January and November, the typical wildflower season in Kern County, the amount of rainfall being the obvious key factor. The ground needs a soaking rain, not one that floods, every couple of weeks as well as temperature and winds that are not too high. If temperatures get too hot, the flowers will bloom fast and wilt as fast as they arrived.     Some flowers that one can expect to see throughout Kern County as the season progresses are fiddlenecks, blue dicks and wild hyacinths, to only name a few flower specimens that will present themselves when the time and conditions are right.     “The Kern valley is generally first to bloom,” Sheehey said. “We should start seeing blooming fairly soon. A lot of people are usually looking for sunflower relatives, poppies, lupines and other colorful plants.”      Woody Road, from Famoso Road up to Woody, is usually the first in the foothills to bloom in March sometime. Another area is Mill Creek off of the Old Kern Canyon Road, which peaks its bloom sometime in April.      “Highway 155 from Highway 64 all the way to the Sierra Vista and on over to Lake Isabella is a great road to see a changing bloom,” Clark said. “Granite Road by Highway 65 is also good, because you can drive it from Famoso Road to Highway 155 and up to Alta Sierra from March to July, and see different flowers blooming in succession.”     It is important to remember that safety should be one’s first concern, as many of the locations that wildflowers can be observed are along freeways and highways – where it would be unwise, to use a cliché, to stop and smell the roses.      “Be sure to take an exit and not just park on the side of the road,” Sheehey warned. “It’s better safe than sorry.”     So if you find yourself looking for something to do, for the price of a tank of gas you can take part in the natural splendor of our surroundings. Pack a lunch, take your special someone and simply drive. As Sheehey put it: “As long as you don’t have blinders on, you are sure to see a lot of beauty.”     “We are so lucky here in Kern County,” Clark said. “You just drive as far as the flowers are blooming, then the next time you go out just drive higher.”      “Much like any sport, it is a personal competition for some people,” Sheehey said. “Then there are those who just toodle around and just want to walk and hike.”