Poppy Bloom Now Changing ‘Hour by Hour'

If you have a solid friendship with spring, as in the season, then you know that things with spring really can change overnight.

One day the liquidamber tree, the one standing grandly outside your front door, is bare, and the next? Tiny buds have appeared at the tips of the tiniest twigs.

Likewise, flower trees can get frilly fast, as blossoms begin to unfold and flutter.

Poppies, too, can pop in no time, and the March 4 report from the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, the Lancaster-based center for pretty carpets of colorful poppies and wildflowers, confirms this fact.

"Today is quite warm, and the bloom is changing hour-by-hour!" shared a reserve representative, noting that the flowers had "changed" in appearance between observances made at 10 a.m. on March 4, and then again at 1 o'clock.

Have we arrived at peak poppy bloom? Not yet. Nope. So everyone should kindly manage their poppy-fueled emotions, please and thank you.

But a photograph, shared on Facebook on March 3, revealed poppies are beginning to orange-up certain spots around the gloriously vast and vista-filled location.

The next few weeks feel positively poppy-riffic, though keep in mind the 2020 bloom is predicted to be "moderate."

For sure, the non-poppy'd areas still dominate the reserve, but they also brim with the buds and blossoms of other notable wildflowers.

A location that now has a "nice, new ADA-accessible sidewalk," one that measures 0.7 miles, giving visitors plenty of views along the way.

There's also a new cell phone tour, which provides "notifications along the trails."

And yes: There's a PoppyCam Live Feed, if you want to check in on what the flowers are doing right this minute (probably blooming and/or swaying in a breeze and/or looking lovely in the sunshine).

Again, there are several different wildflowers covering the reserve, beyond the popular poppies, including fiddle necks and forget-me-nots.

So you can choose to make your outing all about poppy-directed admiration, or you find another flower, one that isn't always in the 'grammable spotlight, and admire it thoroughly.

The red maid? The slender keel fruit? Will they ever top poppies on the 'gram?

We're not stirring up flower-against-flower resentment or competition here. We love them all.

Of course, we should all admire those slender keel fruits and fiddlenecks from the trail. "Don't Doom the Bloom" is again the call to action to keep in mind, whenever you call upon the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.