Wildflowers

Every spring, whether the rain is plentiful or sparse, the hills around my home sprout into flower.  The picture included here shows a hillside with several patches of a rather common plant, one we call Fiddleneck.

This picture was taken in my back field, about 300 yards northwest of my house.  The ridge with the Fiddleneck on it is between my home and Springville.  The big boulder on top of the left (west) end of the ridge has a vague similarity to a snail, so this ridge is called Snailhead.

The rain season this year has been very unusual, to say the least.  We have an annual average in this area of 12.0 inches. Our first rainfall this season came in the month of September, but was only 0.27 inches.  November was dry all month, and December might as well have been.  January wasn't too bad, and February was a little short.  But look out March.  Around here we've been calling it a "miracle March"

Sep 0.27
Oct 0.71
Nov 0.00
Dec 0.11
Jan 1.95
Feb 0.78
Mar 6.21
Apr 0.63

The total rainfall to date is 10.66 inches. This is close enough to our average 12.0 inches to be able to easily grow grass for the cattle.

When we start into spring, one of the pleasures in the Sierra Nevada Foothills is the growth of wildflowers.  Every year, depending at least partly on the timing of the rains, the flowers differ in the amount of color, and the location of the plants.

On slopes where the Fiddleneck proliferates, it isn't unusual to see a few Poppys blooming.  They show up as a much darker orange, and not as yellow.  But so far this area seems to be strictly Fiddleneck. And, this year, it is appearing on slopes where I have not noticed it before