It’s California wildflower season. Watch our video, and where to see them in person

“A crazy quilt of color” is how in 1850, Maria Mayfield described gazing out on the plains of California’s San Joaquin Valley as her family descended from the Pacheco Pass for a new beginning.

Thomas Jefferson Mayfield reflected in his elder years the excitement of the sight in historian Frank Latta’s book “Tailholt Tales.”

“The whole plain was covered with great patches of rose, yellow, scarlet, orange, and blue,” he recalled. “The colors did not mix to any great extent. Each flower like a certain kind of soil best and some of the patches were a mile or more across.”

One hundred and seventy one years later, Fresno-area residents don’t have far to go to catch a glimpse of what the Mayfield family experienced in our Sierra Nevada foothills.

Though a somewhat dry winter, and perhaps boosted by the heavy atmospheric river storm recently, nature is putting on a show with the annual display of wildflowers.

From fiddleneck to popcorn flowers blanketing meadows, to the poppies emerging in their preferred rocky and craggy locals, and tiny red maids, baby blue eyes, and the perennial favorite, the wild lupine.

A popular viewing area is around Piedra, along the Kings River, Wonder Valley along Elwood Road, and along Trimmer Springs Road around Pine Flat. Those traveling to take in the colors are advised to take a good hat, sunscreen, water and to keep a wary eye out for rattlesnakes as the weather warms up.

This story was originally published April 3, 2021 at 1:26 PM.