FEW BLOOMS IN THIS YEAR'S POPPY DISPLAY.Byline: Greg Botonis Daily News Staff Writer California Poppy California poppy: see poppy. California poppy Annual garden plant (Eschscholzia californica) in the poppy family, native to the western coast of North America and naturalized in parts of southern Europe, Asia, and Australia. Festival visitors will be disappointed this year at nature's wildflower wildflower Any flowering plant that grows without intentional human aid. Wildflowers are the source of all cultivated garden varieties of flowers. A wildflower growing where it is unwanted is considered a weed. display. Orange and green - and white and blue and pink - are the appropriate spring colors at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is a California wildlife reserve located in the rural westside of the Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County. Constitutionally, it is a state park. Its namesake is the state flower, the California Poppy. , but this year's scheme is basic brown. ``It looks like it's about as bad as it can get,'' said local wildflower expert Milt Stark. ``It does not look good at all.'' Sparse rain - and the timing of the three inches or so that did fall - are getting the blame. ``It's not just the rain total,'' said Stark, author of ``A Flower-Watcher's Guide,'' the bible for people who want to know which wildflower is which in the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley . ``It's the rain and the timing and the winter before and a lot of complex factors. This year we just didn't have enough rain at the right time. The winter didn't produce enough snow either. The colder the winter, the more snow, the better the bloom.'' History shows it isn't just lack of rain that affects the bloom: In 1991, only about 12 inches of rain fell, but the valley was carpeted with gold, yellow, red and orange flowers. More than 25 inches of rain fell in 1993, but the bloom was the worst this century, Stark said. To help wildflowers bloom, the state parks staff for several years has burned off nonnative grasses in the fall, lessening competition for the flowers. The areas that have been burned over the past four years seemed to have produced a better crop of flowers, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. state parks reports. The poppy poppy, common name for some members of the Papaveraceae, a family composed chiefly of herbs of the Northern Hemisphere having a characteristic milky or colored sap. reserve was located on 1,700 acres in the western Antelope Valley because the land was judged to be the most consistent poppy bearing land in the state. The acreage was selected in 1970 to preserve and protect the poppy, which had been selected as the state flower in 1903. In 1976 the reserve was opened after the Lancaster Women's Club Women’s clubs first arose in the United States during the post-civil war period. As a result of increased leisure time due to modern household advances, middle class women had more time to engage in intellectual pursuits. helped raise the money to purchase it. The reserve's visitors center - 15 miles west of Lancaster on Lancaster Road - is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Because of the dismal bloom, the parking fee remains at its $3 off-season amount. For more information on the reserve, call (661) 724-1180. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion