Carrizo Plain National Monument
Santa Margarita, California
April 2023
The thing that makes the super bloom a remarkable experience is the sheer mass and number of flowers. To see the meadows and fields covered, as if a carpet of many colors and textures has rolled across the surface of the land, is extraordinary.
As I said in previous posts, it is hard to capture in 2-dimensions what is, in essence, a 3-dimensional, 360° and 5-sense experience. When you add in the incandescence of sunshine, the tender touch of the breeze, the melodies of birds and crickets, and most of all, the fragrance of thousands of blossom, it’s as if one merges into the landscape itself. A photograph just can’t do that. Not yet, anyway.
The super bloom is like a sand mandala, the sacred art prepared by Tibetan monks. They create a masterpiece painting made of individually placed brightly colored sand particles. After weeks of effort, the entire creation is swept away – destroyed – to symbolize the impermanence of all things. Here the tapestry is made up of petals and sepals, stigmas and stamens, anthers and ovules. Then the super bloom is swept away by summer heat and the cycle of seasons.
Below are futile, but worthy, attempts to convey the scale, grandeur and opulence of a super bloom. These photos were taken both in Carrizo Plain National Monument and on the way to and from there.
Please leave a comment below so I know you were here!
Love the broad sweeps of color – the light on the surrounding hills. One of John Muir’s log books of his walking travels through the SF Bay area, south bay and eventually to Yosemite includes his descriptions of the vast plains of wild flowers that covered so much of the valleys. We only now see some rather small remnants of that majesty. These super bloom photos help keep it all in mind. Thanks!
Hi Linda, Thank you for your comment! I too bemoan the loss of so much grassland that once covered the central valley and south but is now developed. Imagining a huge part of the state covered in flowers is mind-blowing and sad. Even when standing among the fields of blooms at CPNM and seeing endless blossoms in all directions, I also know they are limited and are but a tiny percentage of what was. I envy Muir his travels, witnessing so much before it was destroyed. The same is true for the wetlands that are no more and that once hosted millions of birds.
Carla, lovely💜🙏🏼
Thank you, Karen.
Really impressive, Carla, thanks for laying this out for those of us who haven’t seen a Super Bloom! Nature is truly amazing, and so often breathtakingly beautiful!
Hi Rob, thank you for your comment and your appreciation of what I am trying to share! Maybe someday you’ll get to see a super bloom!
awesome Carla! They remind me if the brilliant colors of the painter Wolf Kahn, some practically dayglow/psychedelic.