Lancaster

No Poppy Action Yet, but a Poppy-Adjacent Center Just Opened for the Season

The Jane S. Pinheiro Interpretive Center at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve has wildflower displays and excellent information, too.

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What to Know

  • The Jane S. Pinheiro Interpretive Center opens for the season each year on March 1; it remains open through Mother's Day
  • Poppy Cam, which keeps watch on the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, is showing poppy-free hillsides as March 2023 begins, but things may quickly change
  • The Reserve's team shared thoughts on the recent snow, and how it might impact the coming bloom, on social media

If Southern California's flowers have an official shared birthday, it might very well be March 1.

True, the first day of March falls within the realm of winter, not spring — and seeing as how it snowed in various parts of Los Angeles on March 1, 2023, we'll put the date very much in the wintry column — but it can be a hope-filled day of petal-inspired planning.

Look to The Flower Fields, in Carlsbad, a vibrant attraction that always throws wide its proverbial doors on March 1, year after year.

And on that very same day? The Jane S. Pinheiro Interpretive Center opens for the season, even as big poppy blooms remain weeks away (if there will be big blooms, of course).

Where is this center located?

If you've visited the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, you may have seen it, or even stopped inside to enjoy the center's educational wildflower exhibits.

It's really the first sign of spring sights to come when the center begins to welcome back visitors each March 1.

As for the wildflower action around the Lancaster-close location?

Poppy Cam, which offers us a live look at the hills and dells of the expansive area, tells the up-to-the-minute story: Things are still on the flower-free side as March 2023 begins.

Further, recent snow accumulation at the Reserve has flower fans wondering what the 2023 season might hold.

The Reserve team is not predicting an early bloom, thanks to the cold stuff that strikingly fell around the area near the end of February.

As to whether the brief blanket of snow will provide an especially stunning bloom? "The short answer: we don't know," reads a March 2 Facebook post.

The team also reminded poppy fans that "poppies grow in a wide variety of climates including those with snow and the Reserve gets occasional snows during the winter."

So we're in a wait-and-see moment, between the time of the center's seasonal debut and when the first sprays of orange amazingness will begin to pop up on the Poppy Cam.

A good bet, while we see what the wintry rains and late snowfall deliver to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve?

Keeping tabs on the Reserve's social updates and, of course, the Poppy Cam's lovely live feed.

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