Banner wildflower season expected
Looking for a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy time? Then get out and see the wildflowers!
Colorful blossoms are beginning to dot the hillsides around Kern County and some are predicting a better than average bloom this season, thanks to the recent rain and sunshine.
“It’s shaping up to be a good wildflower year,” said Alison Sheehey, a wildlife expert who lives in the Kern Valley and maintains a wildflower report on her Web site, www.natureali.org.“There’s poppies and fiddlenecks and hillsides that are just blazing orange,” she said of the Kern Valley.
Closer the Bakersfield, Sheehey said, she’s spotted splashes of orange along Alfred Harrell Highway from Panorama Drive to Hart Park.
Kern County is home to many varieties of wildflowers, including the California poppy, Indian paintbrush, desert calico and San Joaquin wooly-thread.
Hot lines and Web pages to check for wildflower sightings:
Kern County Wildflower Hot line, 322-WILD