Having seen some recent photos of the Poppy Reserve with what looked like a good display, I drove out for my first visit in eight years. If what you were interested in was poppies, you would not have been disappointed. I was amazed that in this dry year there would be such a good bloom. The fiddlenecks were also in abundance, and I estimated that about 95% of the bloom there was these two species. But there was a good bloom in places of the tansy-leaved phacelia, and I saw about a dozen other things in bloom, though most were few and far between. It's often the case that in locations where there is a mass bloom of a single species, there isn't a lot of diversity, and that's certainly the case with the Poppy Reserve. The Reserve is not only for poppies but is also home to lizards, gopher snakes, meadowlarks, coyotes, bobcats, kangaroo rats, gophers and numerous other forms of wildlife which you might be lucky enough to see. Bloom time is generally best at the beginning of April but can peak any time between mid-March and early May depending on sun, clouds, heat, rain and wind, with the best viewing times being mid-morning. An early arrival is recommended because the parking lot can fill up quickly. An asterisk next to the common name indicates a non-native species.

Common goldfields
Lasthenia gracilis
Asteraceae

The photo at left above shows the diagnostic feature that identifies this species, a pappus with opaque, white, lance-ovate scales as opposed to clear, brown, linear to awl-like ones which would be for the similar-looking Lasthenia californica ssp. californica.

Grape soda lupine
Lupinus excubitus var. excubitus
Fabaceae

Ghostly rubber rabbitbrush
Ericameria nauseosa var. hololeuca
Asteraceae

Miniature lupine
Lupinus bicolor
Fabaceae