Winter Showers (and Showers and Showers) Bring a Bounty of Wildflowers

LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. — Torrential downpours this winter sent California residents fleeing from floods and mudslides. Blizzards dumped snow in the mountains, trapping locals in their homes for weeks. Hulking trees crashed into homes and severed power lines.

After such a disastrous start to the year, it may be a while before nature can fully recompense Californians for their struggles.

But the succession of atmospheric rivers did deliver relief from a prolonged drought. And it left behind other rewards that are only now emerging: The state is awash in color, from the Eastern Sierra to Malibu, from the deserts near San Diego to the meadows north of Sacramento.

“This is how we feed our souls,” said Heather Schneider, a rare plant biologist with the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

California is experiencing a “super bloom,” an explosion of floral color across hillsides and valleys that occurs only after a particularly wet season. The last time the state experienced the phenomenon on a widespread basis was four years ago — and with California’s boom-bust cycles of precipitation, it is anyone’s guess when the next one will come.