WILDFLOWER INFORMATION

Identify the Flowers of Spring
by Mary Lindsey

It is Spring again in the San Bernardino Mountains and when you go out for a drive or take a hike in the forest, you will begin to see the wonder of Spring unfold before your eyes. The roadsides and meadows begin to sprout waves of different wildflowers and native flowering trees and bushes.

Some years, when the weather stays cool and damp, the flowers will bloom in clusters for about 2 weeks or more and you will have more time to enjoy each species of flower separately. Other years, it gets hot quickly and the flowers have a short growing season and are very scattered and sparse.

Our wildflowers are precious because most of them are not transplantable, some are even protected. We hope you will be respectful of our wildflowers and native plants and take care not to plant other plants that my take over their natural habitat.

Mountain Beautiful would like to help you identify some of them and learn their common names. We highly recommend the book, "Wildflowers of the San Bernardino Mountains" by the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust (PO Box 490 Lake Arrowhead) available at McCabe's Booksellers in Crestline. This is an excellent guide to our native wildflowers and plants. Some plants that we have photographs of are listed below.

April:
Miner's Lettuce, Baby Blue Eyes, Dogwood, Lunaria (Honesty or Money plant), California Dandelion.

May:
Larkspur, Wallflower, Lupine, California Lilac, Wild Strawberry