Where to see Southern California wildflowers

Poppies are beautiful when they cover the desert hillsides in orange flowers. But poppies are also fickle: If there’s too much rain, the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve can only expect a moderate poppy season. Too dry? Not a great bloom either (but you could still potentially see some other wildflowers).

After weeks of practically no poppy action, things are looking up: It’s the first time this season you can actually spot some orange patches on the reserve’s livestream (just don’t expect a carpet of blooms like the one pictured above). According to the Theodore Payne Foundation, the best way to see the flowers is to hike the ADA trail that connects the north and south loops of the Poppy Trail. Along the route, you can also spot the beginnings of other annuals like grape soda lupine, wild cucumber, fiddlenecks and goldfields. But be sure to stay on the trail—the reserve just posted a photo of a rattlesnake hidden amid a few poppies as a warning on its Instagram page.

In a typical year, peak poppy season is usually from March to mid-April—a short window if you want to catch the blooms at their height. Check the park’s website or Instagram account for the latest bloom status or tune in to the livestream. And if a meaningful amount of poppies do end up appearing, we’ll make sure to update our full guide to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

Chino Hills may never achieve full-blown super bloom status, but the state park pretty much looks like the Shire after a wet winter (and heavy rain will often close the sopping wet trails for a couple of days).

As of early April, rain has caused more wildflowers to pop up along the hillsides and trails, with “several species starting to show their colors,” according to California State Parks. You might spot wild radish, redmaids, black mustard, canterbury bells and arroyo lupine scattered throughout—and even some California poppies in patches around the park, including near the Bane Canyon Kiosk. 

Regardless of whether or not there’s a full-scale bloom on the way, it’s still a beautiful hike. Follow the lone park road, and just before it turns toward its terminus, you’ll find a dirt parking lot where Bane Canyon Road turns into Telegraph Canyon Road. Follow the signs for the Bane Ridge Trail and—in those years when they actually bloom—this is usually one of the easiest-to-reach spots for poppies. You’ll need to pay to park ($10 for the day), though it’s free in the residential area near the entrance—but you’ll be tacking two to three hilly, shadeless miles onto your trek.

This sprawling grassland in southeastern San Luis Obispo County may stretch past what we’d typically consider Southern California, but the three-hour trip is often well worth it after a wet winter. Make no mistake: On most days you’ll find an arid, dry lake bed at the center of this national monument, which is bisected by the San Andreas Fault. But if the conditions are just right—as they memorably were in 2017—you may spot a couple of weeks where the hillsides turn into rolling carpets of daisies, goldfields and other yellow, orange and purple flora.

Back in late February, the president of the Carrizo Plain Conservancy said he is “not too optimistic right now about the wildflower outlook.” More recently, though, there has been a bit of wildflower action: Theodore Payne reports that you can spot some (small and scattered) wildflowers driving on Highway 58 east from San Luis Obispo. Shell Creek Road—usually a wildflower hotspot—in contrast only has a few goldfields growing this year. But in the northwest corner of Carrizo Plain, you’ll find a small display of delicate-looking phacelia, as well as goldfields along Soda Lake Road. Just a heads-up if you do visit the park: Some roads are wet and muddy, and no towing services are readily available in the relatively remote area.

Take a hike along the top of the iconic Malibu cliff and you’ll find bundles of giant coreopsis that turn from dusty green to lively yellow each winter and spring.

As of late March, there were clusters of the yellow flowers visible on the hillside—though not blanketing it. They should stick around for quite a few weeks (last year’s bloom stretched throughout April).

You’ll find a very limited number of parking spots on Cliffside Drive, between Birdview Avenue and Dume Drive, and zero parking in the surrounding neighborhoods. But thankfully you can reach the flowery bluff via a lovely (and uphill but not punishingly so) hike from the sandy beach below.

After a wet winter, you may find this iconic desert environment spotted with globemallow, desert sunflower, desert sand-verbena, brown-eyed primrose and more. You also might even find a temporary lake: In 2024, some heavy February rainfall briefly filled Badwater Basin with water.

But as of early April, the National Park Service shared that Death Valley is experiencing a below-average bloom and there are not very many wildflowers in the park. Unfortunately an extremely hot fall and dry winter dimmed the flower forecast for this year. Most Angelenos are looking at a four-hour or so trek to get out there, so if you’re solely in search of flora, we highly suggest checking out the park’s latest wildflower report online before making any plans.

Located west of the Salton Sea, and about a three-hour drive from L.A., this sprawling state park mostly known for its rough terrain and dry lakes has become an oddly reliable wildflower destination over these past few wet winters. As of mid-March, though, the Theodore Payne Foundation reported that the “desert is bone dry with no great displays of the usual wildflowers.” You might find some scattered far into the canyons on north-facing slopes—but that would require quite a bit of effort.

It’s also roughly in the same direction as South Lake Park in San Marcos, a small hillside trail on the northern edge of San Diego County that was blanketed with lilacs last year. But we don’t think either are really worth the multi-hour trek at this point.

In a typical year, though, you can expect to see desert gold poppies, phacelia and a variety of tiny “belly flowers” at Anza-Borrego. Of all the locations, Henderson Canyon tends to be the easiest to reach and one of the most reliable spots for wildflower-viewing. Check the park’s Instagram for the most up-to-date bloom news and trail information as the season progresses, as well as this very helpful interactive map.

Marked by traffic nightmares, brief closures and the crush of thousands of visitors, Walker Canyon in Lake Elsinore was a super bloom sensation in 2019. The hillside trail was covered with eye-poppingly beautiful carpets of poppies and other colorful flowers—with Disneyland-sized lines of people snaking their way through them. It caused such a nightmare for locals that the City of Lake Elsinore flat-out closed the area by the canyon to both cars and pedestrians in 2023 and 2024 in anticipation of a super bloom that never actually arrived.

So far this year looks like a bloom bust too, with nothing but barren hillsides so far. (The city formerly had a livestream of the trail, but right now it literally just shows a dumpster.)

If you’re simply looking for a floral backdrop in that general direction of SoCal, consider venturing another hour south along the freeway toward the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. These perfectly manicured rows of planted flowers are a little less magical than hillsides blanketed in poppies, but they’re still visually stunning—and way more predictable.

When Walker Canyon closed in 2023, Diamond Valley Lake’s 1.3-mile seasonal wildflower trail quickly emerged as a fair substitute. The typically dry terrain was turned a lush green and covered with patches of orange poppies, purple lupines and goldfields.

Though the trail is now open for the season (Wed–Sun), you won’t really see any flowers at all yet—and the recreation area doesn’t expect there to be a big bloom.

In those years when there is a brilliant bloom, expect thick crowds and no shade. You’ll want to arrive early with cash for the entrance fee ($4 per person) and prepare to wait in a line of cars. Parking ($11) is available at the marina (2615 Angler Ave); from there follow the Lakeview Trail for about a half mile and you—and the crowd in front of you—will reach the wildflower loop.

Though the landscape was significantly altered in the wake of the devastating Woolsey Fire, Malibu Creek State Park has shown considerable signs of recovery since 2018—and it was luckily unaffected by the Palisades Fire. While winter rains regularly carpet the park in green, we’ve yet to see those storms bring a miracle super bloom to the region—fingers crossed that changes this year. That said, it’s still a remarkable spot that’s worth a visit any time of year.

On the Palos Verdes Peninsula, wildflowers bloom year-round thanks to its coastal location, but like most Southern California locations, March and April are peak months. In the summer, you’ll see buckwheats with soft white blooms, cactus, native milkweed, cliff aster and California aster. Head to any number of the area’s nature preserves—the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve, Linden H. Chandler Preserve, George F. Canyon and White Point Nature Preserve—in the springtime to try to catch blooms. For those years when wildflowers disappoint, consider the manicured displays at South Coast Botanic Garden as an area alternative.

There are about 900 native plants that grow throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, so you’re bound to find small patches of wildflowers on any trail in the area each spring once the weather starts to warm. You likely won’t find a spectacular sight, but once the flowers do start to bloom, consider heading to Point Mugu State Park and Rancho Sierra Vista, both of which flank the western end of the range. Try taking the Chumash Trail; it starts at PCH and is a steep climb, where chocolate lily and globe gilia are known to grow along the ridgeline. Or start on the north side, at Rancho Sierra Vista near Thousand Oaks where you can walk the rolling hills in serch of wildflowers under the shadow of Boney Mountain.

Wildflowers are such a big deal in Idyllwild, located in the San Jacinto Mountains, that there’s an entire festival around them. The wildflower show—this year’s will take place May 24 to 25—typically coincides with the region’s peak bloom, which comes much later in the season due to the area’s elevation around 5,400 feet. So if you head over in late May, you should find a variety of species, including western azaleas, a variety of lupine, both leafy and Alpine asters and a variety of penstemon. If you travel above 6,000 feet, you’ll find even more varieties, but those tend to bloom even later in the season (say, June or even July). If you’re looking to take a hike to see the flowers, try the Summit Trail from the nature center down to the meadow in the County Park, then returning via the Perimeter trail.