POPPY PUNDITS PESSIMISTIC ABOUT ANNUAL SPECTACLE : ANTELOPE VALLEY CALIFORNIA POPPY RESERVE TIPS.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

Weeks earlier than usual because of an abnormally warm February, the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is blooming with yellow fiddlenecks, purple filarees, blue lupines and, of course, golden California poppies.

But how long the wildflowers will last, and how plentiful they will get, is anybody's guess.

``Unless we get rain in the next week or so it's going to be pretty poor,'' author and wildflower expert Milt Stark said of this spring's prospects. ``There are many, many plants out in the field, but because there's no rain, they're being stunted.''

The poppy reserve's Jane Pinheiro Visitor Center will open Saturday and Sunday, then stay open daily starting March 15 until the wildflowers disappear. The reserve, a part of the state park system, is 15 miles west of Lancaster. Entrance fee is $5 per vehicle during the hours the visitor center is open.

The center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays after March 15.

Poppies were blooming on Valentine's Day - two or three weeks earlier than usual. On Monday, poppies sprinkled the roadsides leading to the reserve, and dotted the hillside east of the visitor center, where a lightning strike in August started a wildfire that burned off competing grass.

Filarees lent a purple tint to the grassy swale below the visitor center. Lupines, brodeia and fiddlenecks bloomed beside the trails.

Looking out from the visitor center as gusty winds swept the grassy rolling hills, Ranger Bob McAdams warned that conditions were getting dry already.

``We're not like Disneyland. We don't have gardeners out here transplanting,'' McAdams said. ``It's just a natural control.''

And Mother Nature this year sent afternoon temperatures in the 70s and zero rain during February, normally the Antelope Valley's wettest month.

Since July, the 1,700-acre reserve has received only 5.75 inches of rain - almost double last year's 2.98 inches, which produced a pathetic handful of poppies but hardly more than half the annual average of 10.6 inches.

Heavy rain in March has saved the valley's wildflowers before.

Six years ago, in the midst of a statewide drought, parks officials had about written off that year's wildflower display. Then nearly 7 inches of rain fell in the ``March miracle,'' covering the western Antelope Valley with the best poppy crop in decades.

``In February 1991, it looked like we weren't going to have anything. Then it rained all the month of March and we had a glorious season,'' said Stark, whose ``A Flower-Watcher's Guide'' is a popular purchase at the reserve gift shop. ``If we get some pretty good rains within the next couple weeks we might do OK.''

BEST TIME TO VISIT: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on sunny, windless days. Poppies open in full sun. They close at night, in wind or on cloudy days.

NATURE WALKS: State park guides lead 1-1/2-mile, one-hour nature hikes, leaving from the visitors center at 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. weekends, and about noon weekdays.

VISITOR CENTER: Named for an Antelope Valley artist who helped raise funds for the reserve, the Jane S. Pinheiro Visitor Center contains docents to answer questions about wildflower locations, a video about the reserve, displays on plant and animal life, and a gift shop.

WILDFLOWER UPDATES: A taped message on wildflower conditions is available by calling [phone].

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):

2 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--color) California poppies are in early bloom at the reserve, thanks to a warm February.

(2) Ranger Bob McAdams checks on this year's crop of poppies at the Antelope Valley reserve, which is in need of some timely rains in March.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News

Box: ANTELOPE VALLEY CALIFORNIA POPPY RESERVE TIPS (see text)