LANCASTER'S POPPY FESTIVAL SET TO BLOOM.Byline: Romy Jacobson Daily News Staff Writer With 1998 boasting the third-best showing for wildflowers this decade, visitors at next weekend's 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 should go home satisfied. Clusters of California poppies dot the Antelope Valley's California Poppy Reserve, though the hillsides aren't solid fields of brilliant orange like in 1991 or the variegated variegated adjective Multifaceted; with many colors, aspects, features, etc purples, whites and yellows of 1995. ``It's a good year if you consider all our dry years as below average. It's not like '91 and '95, but it's a good year,'' said local 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. expert Milt Stark. The California Poppy Festival will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and April 19 at Lancaster City Park, on 10th Street West at Avenue K-8. Buses will run from the festival to the poppy reserve on both days. The prominent flowers on the reserve are the golden poppies, but mixed in are tiny yellow goldfields n. 1. A small slender woolly annual (Lasthenia chrysostoma) with very narrow opposite leaves and branches bearing solitary golden-yellow flower heads; it grows from Southwestern Oregon to Baja California and Arizona; - it is often cultivated. and wild parsley, white forget-me-nots, red maids red maids: see purslane. , lavender lacy phacelia Noun 1. phacelia - any plant of the genus Phacelia scorpion weed, scorpionweed flower - a plant cultivated for its blooms or blossoms genus Phacelia - American herbs with usually pinnatifid leaves and blue or purple or white flowers in scorpioid , blue dicks and purple owl's clover owl's clover n. Any of various New World plants of the genus Orthocarpus, having spikes of variously colored tubular flowers enclosed in prominent, often pigmented bracts. , Stark said. What separates 1998 from 1995 and 1991 is not so much the total rainfall, but how much rain fell in March, said John Crossman, Mojave Desert Mojave or Mohave Desert, c.15,000 sq mi (38,850 sq km), region of low, barren mountains and flat valleys, 2,000 to 5,000 ft (610–1,524 m) high, S Calif.; part of the Great Basin of the United States. Sector resource ecologist for the state park system. ``In 1991 and 1995 there was almost 5 inches of rain (in March),'' Crossman said. ``In March '98, there was just over 3, and that seems to have been the deciding characteristic in the past.'' This year's wet winter produced a heavy crop of non-native grasses, which crowded the poppies, said Stark, whose ``A Flower-Watcher's Guide'' is a popular item at the poppy reserve's gift shop. ``Where we usually have poppies we don't have due to the alien crops of weeds,'' Stark said. This year the grasses had a chance to germinate early due to rainfall in November and December. The winter of 1991 was dry until March, which gave the poppies a chance to grow unimpeded unimpeded Adjective not stopped or disrupted by anything Adj. 1. unimpeded - not slowed or prevented; "a time of unimpeded growth"; "an unimpeded sweep of meadows and hills afforded a peaceful setting" , Stark said. To avoid the 15-mile drive on two-lane roads - crowded during weekends at wildflower time - flower fanciers can catch buses next weekend during the city festival. The bus rides are free with festival admission, which is $4 for visitors ages 13 to 61; $2 for seniors 62 and over, and children 6 to 12; and free for children 5 and under. Festival parking is $2, with a free shuttle to the festival's main gate. The poppy reserve's Jane Pinheiro Visitor Center will stay open until the wildflowers disappear with the approach of summer. FESTIVAL FACTS WHAT: California Poppy Festival. WHERE: Lancaster City Park, 43011 10th St. W. WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and April 19. HEADLINERS: Guitarist Earl Klugh Earl Klugh (pronounced "Clue") (born September 16, 1953 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American smooth jazz/jazz fusion guitarist and composer. Klugh normally finger picks a nylon string classical guitar. , 3:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday; guitarist Stanley Jordan, 1:30 to 3 p.m. April 19; bassist Stanley Clarke, 3:30 to 5 p.m. April 19. ADMISSION: $4 ages 13-61; $2 ages 6-12, and 62 and over; free for children 5 and under. Parking is $2. WILDFLOWER UPDATES A taped message on 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. wildflower conditions is available by calling (805) 724-1180, or visit the World Wide Web site at http://www.calparksmojave.com. POPPY RESERVE LOCATION 15101 Lancaster Road, reachable by driving 15 miles west from Lancaster on Avenue I, which becomes Lancaster Road close to the reserve. The entrance fee is $5 per vehicle. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos, 3 Boxes PHOTO (1--Color in AV Edition only) (Ran in AV and Conejo Editions only) Four-year-old Aimee Borras of Lancaster gets a kid's-eye view of the star attractions at the California Poppy Reserve. (2) (Ran in Conejo Edition only) Right, twin sisters Courtney and Amber Kaderbek, 5, pose for their mother, Ruth Kaderbek, in a field of poppies. (3) (Ran in AV and Conejo Editions only) Visitors take a picturesque stroll along a trail winding through the acres of flowers at the reserve. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News BOX: (1) FESTIVAL FACTS (See text) (2) WILDFLOWER UPDATES (See text) (3) POPPY RESERVE LOCATION (See text) |
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