A different field of purple

Lately it seems like everybody in my area is going crazy over the purple lupine at Folsom Lake, so naturally I had to go and find some alternative wildflowers. Besides the Douglas iris which I found near Gualala growing almost as thick as the lupine at Folsom, there were so many other shapes and colors. Some of them were familiar to me, others were new discoveries, and as for the rest, I still have no idea what they are but would really love to find out. The images here are only a few examples of the springtime flowers we saw nearly everywhere we looked.

California poppies, orange or yellow, also growing in great abundance

Grape hyacinth was bursting out everywhere along the roadside around Bodega Bay, less so further north

Morning glories, both pink and white, grew along our driveway

Bluff lettuce reaching out for sunlight from between two big boulders,

Possibly not a wildflower, but the purple/black shades caught my eye

Calochortus tolmiei — I only spotted one of these fuzzy beauties, but it’s now officially my new favorite wildflower