Unseasonable heat puts California’s superbloom at risk

Wildflower expert Naomi Fraga was excited about the prospect of an extraordinary bloom this spring, after a winter of near record rainfall, but this week's unseasonably hot, dry weather has dimmed her hopes for a superbloom year.

- Jeanette Marantos, Tribune News Service

“Superblooms are not guaranteed every year, even after lots of rain,” said Fraga, director of conservation programs at California Botanic Garden in Claremont. “When it happens, it’s extraordinary, but you need all the stars to align, with rain, temperature and timing. We've had some of those ingredients, but it remains to be seen if the weather will cooperate to give us a spectacular bloom year.” California certainly has had the rainfall — it’s been the second wettest season through January that LA has seen in 21 years, according to the Los Angeles Almanac. And the rainy weather came at the right time to give SoCal lots of colorful blooms this spring, traditionally around mid-March through April in Southern California, Fraga said.