Super Blooms!

Oh, how I love spring and fall! After being trapped in Florida for almost 40 years, I had forgotten what these seasons were like. Here in the Pacific Northwest, spring, in particular, is rather in-your-face.

I understand why people get spring fever. Setting aside that whole primal instinct to mate thing, I will say that that burst of floral color after a long grey rainy winter makes me want to get out and dance amongst the poppies. Woo hoo! Life renews itself! I feel reborn!

True confession: I had never heard the term “super bloom” until a few days ago. Having lived in Florida for so long, I assumed this was referring to a toxic algae bloom, as is so common in that state which ignores environmentalism so deftly. But no.

Due to the rainy winter, it seems that California is in the midst of an historic super bloom along with its epic floods. In essence, the wildflowers are out in force. The images online are spectacular. They are of fields and slopes and valleys bursting with color as far as the eye can see! If I had all the time in the world, I’d hop into my car right now and drive down there to see for myself. I can practically feel the joy of the pollinators from here!

The largest patch of wildflowers I have ever seen in my life was along a stretch of Highway 76 in North Georgia decades ago. It stretched along the road’s shoulder and median for miles and miles. It was so beautiful that it almost made me cry. I’ll never forget that as long as I live. As far as I’m concerned, nature trumps humanity every single time.

If you are one of the wildflower chasers of this world, please remember to respect the beauty that you have the distinct privilege of witnessing. I know it’s tempting to run into a field to surround yourself with blooms, but if you tread on these flowers, you may be damaging them and preventing them from dropping seeds for future super blooms. Stay on pathways. Park in designated areas, not on grassy shoulders. And for heaven’s sake, don’t pick the flowers. Leave them for everyone to enjoy. Take pictures. Revel in nature’s abundance!

For those of us who aren’t able to see these super blooms ourselves, we’ll have to make do with some stunning photographs (none of which were taken by me). At first, I planned to restrict these images to the 2023 California super bloom, but then I got caught up in all the gorgeous wildflower images I was looking at, and I suddenly realized, who cares about the where or the when of them? If we’re only seeing them vicariously, let’s just celebrate fields of flowers and the joy they bring us.

So, without further ado, I give you this bouquet of images of random fields of wildflowers from random points in time, dear reader. Enjoy!

The ultimate form of recycling: Buy my book, read it, and then donate it to your local public library or your neighborhood little free library! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5