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Re: Desert Wildflowers in CA

Dear Nan, and all,
Enclosed is a web site for desert flowers, but I'm probably behind the
times and everyone out there must already have it:
www.desertusa.com/index.html
My husband and I have been to Anza-Borrego during a flower frenzy like the
one you just described. He grew up in San Diego and had never seen it. I
grew up in La Canada (nr. Pasadena, CA) and as a child in the 30s had been
taken each spring to the top of the Grapevine on the road from Los Angeles
to San Francisco, looking out at the southern end of the Great Valley
towards Bakersfield. We could see wildflowers as far as the eye could see,
as it was uncultivated land then. Poppies, owls clover, lupine,
everything. And hundreds of people were picking them, without reduction of
numbers. I still think I could see Mount Diablo in the SF Bay Area, but it
may have been imagination. There was a big mountain in the far-away
distance.
Unfortunately, restoration and preservation attempts don't quite measure
up to the acres and acres and acres of flowers before
cultivation...Fortunately Anza Borrego is protected in large chunks and is
pretty much what we remember...
Elly Bade
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