What a Little Sunlight Can Do

This year's wet Spring has really been a boon for the California wildflower rush. They're more prolific than 2008, and many are lasting longer - in the Sierra Nevada and the California Coastal Ranges (I camera-haunt both).

I enjoyed some of this explosive growth firsthand while visiting the Sierra for a couple of weeks at the end of April. The climate shifted back & forth from wet & gray to sunny & 80 (as oft happens in California). And, all it takes is a little sunlight to get good ole photosynthesis kicked into overdrive, and allow the wildflowers to surge and show their love for Father Sun.

So, much like my post on the Early Bloomers of the Sierra Spring, here's some mug shots of the mid-Spring lineup of flowers that beautify the forests & fields around our family lodge near Mariposa, California, and at about 3,100 feet in the Sierra Nevada.

I watched the Dogwoods around the house "flower" in just 4 days:

(not really flowering since the "petals" are actually bracts (colored leaves ala Bougainvillea) - the true flowers are clustered in the center bit)

Out in the fields, the colors were rioting...

Oaks, Redbud & Wintercress:


Goldfields, Blue Dicks & Popcornflower:


Clover, Lupine & Popcornflower:


Blue Dicks, Buttercups & Spring Gold:


Goldfields, Ceanothus & Pines:


Closeups of the cast of colorful characters...

Baby Stars and Lupines:


Woodland Stars & Black Oak buds:


Meadow Foam & Manzanita:


Pine Violets & Sulphur Peas:


Mission Bells & Monkeyflowers:


Checkerblooms & Goldfields:


Popcornflower & Johnny Tuck:


Purple Mouse-ears & Paintbrush:


Bluecup & Ceanothus:


Prettyface & Blue Dicks:


Fivespot & Mountain Misery:


Wild Ginger & Shooting Stars:


Fiddlenecks and a purple Baby Blue Eyes:


Skullcap & Brooklime:


Sure is amazing what a little sunlight can do.

Ooh, ooh, ooh
What a little sunlight can do.

You're in love
Your heart's a flutter all day long
You only stutter cause your poor tongue
Just will not utter the words 'I love you' ...

Ooh, ooh, ooh
What a little sunlight can do to you.

Adapted from "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" by the immortal Billie Holiday

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References:

• Wikipedia - Photosynthesis
• John Muir Laws - The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada
• Lynn & Jim Wilson, And Jeff Nichols - Wildflowers of Yosemite
• Philip A. Munz - Introduction to California Spring Wildflowers
• Peterson Field Guides - A Field Guide to Pacific States Wildflowers

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