Kate Flora: Our plans for March in Florida having fallen through, we went west instead. To gray and rainy San Francisco. To the Berkley Hills and views, between rainstorms, of the Golden Gate Bridge. To snowy Tahoe. To warming Los Angeles and bushes vibrant with camellias. To the California Poppy Reserve, to see magical hillsides aglow with poppies, and then on to Palm Springs, where the unusual rains have brought forth an amazing spring bloom in the desert.
Since you didn’t get to come along, here are some pictures instead.
From San Francisco Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park
Sunset from the Berkley Hills and a gorgeous magnolia
Around Lake Tahoe
In the Descanso Gardens near Pasadena
Poppies north of Los Angeles:
The desert in bloom around Palm Springs:
And so you can feel the magic of that poppy field, here is a short video:
Kait Carson
Charlene D’Avanzo 
Sounds like a wonderful month! Thanks for taking us along!
Hope you had a chance to visit the Huntington in Pasadena. I love it.
https://www.huntington.org/
Thank you! Not much in bloom here yet, so I appreciate you sharing the flora, Kate Flora. <3
Thank you! I haven’t been able to see the poppies until now
Beautiful! Thanks for giving us a mini vacation!
My mum lives in Palm Desert just outside of Palm Springs. She’s currently in the Donner Mt area of Lake Tahoe. Got a picture of her standing against a 15 foot snow cut near the cabin. I’ll have to call her to see if she caught the bloom. Thanks so much for the pics. I’ve never seen the poppy bloom either. Great last name for a poppy encounter!