April 24, 2016

  • The Flower Fields

    Some of you have noticed that I haven't been posting as much recently as I used to.  I came to a point, when there were no herons to visit, that it became somewhat boring to go back to the same places with the camera to take the same photos.  With the exception of trips to Santa Barbara, I found that I also didn't want to take longer day trips.  I sometimes took the camera to the beach, but didn't find what I expected (anything new), and didn't take any photos.  My muse is returning now, and last week I decided to make the drive half way to San Diego to visit the Flower Fields.  It was a trip with mixed results -- it did get me out of the house and finding new things, but the new things were certainly not what I expected.  I looked forward to lunch at an upscale restaurant within an outlet mall by the Flower Fields -- only to find that it had closed a year and a half ago, and the space is now occupied by an Under Armour store!  I ended up viewing the Flower Fields from a vantage point at the top of the hill and eating lunch after I returned home!

    It was a lovely day, sunny and warm but not hot, and wispy clouds drifting ashore from a small storm that never actually came ashore.

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    The Flower Fields is comprised of 50 acres of land on which ranunculus are grown commercially.  They are grown for flowers, for seed, and for the corms that are generally used in garden planting.  During the spring, The Flower Fields are open to the public (for a $15 fee) to walk around, to photograph, and  to purchase items from Armstrong Nursery, a Southern California chain.   On the lower, freeway side, there are restaurants, a row of auto dealerships, and an outlet mall.  Above the flowers, there is a row of office buildings, condos, and a resort hotel.  Unless you are actually inside the Flower Fields, it's actually a little difficult to see that they are there.  Knowing that, I went to a good vantage point above the fields to take some photos, again with mixed results.

    The first photo was taken from the parking lot of the outlet mall, showing the one full field of flowers that are in bloom.  It is getting toward the end of the season -- the attraction closes on May 8, but usually there are several fields that are at least this full of flowers and color.

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    There are about a dozen fields, planted in sequence, with stripes of color -- in a good year, it's really spectacular, and I have posted photos in previous good years.  This year, though, I expect because of the lack of rain that we've had this year, and because of statewide water restrictions, the fields were more sparsely planted, and some appeared not to have been planted at all.  The close part of this one may have been planted and the flowers already picked by the workers to be processed for sale.  The store at the bottom was also not as full as usual of flowers for sale.  As an aside, the tower on the left side of this photo is a power plant.  Carlsbad has just recently activated a new desalination plant connected with the power plant which will supply approximately a quarter of the water for San Diego.  It is a huge plant, but nicely camouflaged!

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    During the season there are several wagons like this taking people out to the fields to see the flowers.  Schools and Retirement Homes from as far as San Diego (another 40 miles or so) take field trips to see the flowers,  This time I only saw one wagon out in the fields.

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    Looking southward, there was one more field full of color -- the flowers are being picked and placed in the trucks alongside the fields.The closer fields have been picked -- after May 8, the workers will go through one more time and pick the rest of the flowers and any seeds that remain.

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    There are a few workers in the field of white flowers -- they pick the flowers and take them to the edge of the field.  The nearby buildings at the bottom are those of the Nursery and other displays within the  compound.  And I always love seeing the row of palm trees lining the ocean along the city of Carlsbad.

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Comments (28)

  • The flowers look like a feast of flowers to me. Our flowers and blossoming trees are just beginning to be pretty.

  • These fields are planted deliberately to bloom on specific dates. They should be almost in full bloom right now, across most of the fields, but the weather didn't cooperate. Garden flowers bloom here all year, except again that this year the drought has prevented much in the way of color.

  • So glad you are posting again. The pictures are beautiful. I think you may have posted the flower fields a couple of years ago on xanga? I vaguely remember seeing them. Or, it is possible I am thinking of Amsterdam too, looking at those flower fields as the plane landed.

    • Thanks, Zakiah! Yes, I have posted photos of the Flower Fields several times. They are about an hour's drive from here, and it makes a fun day trip to go and see them. In a good year, they are spectacular -- much better than this year!

  • Lovely flowers! I'm not sure I'd have planted them in rainbow fashion but it is beautiful to see! I'm so glad your muse is returning. It is the unexpected that makes for the most interesting photos...

    • They plant the Flower Fields in stripes because that way they can keep the colors separated in their seed packets -- you can purchase seeds in any one of the colors or in combinations. I have a busy week coming up, but hope to get out again soon!

  • The effects of drought are obvious, but the Flower Fields still are a bright spot in an otherwise dreary part of Carlsbad. Too bad the restaurant closed. I also recommend a visit to San Onofre State Beach, if you've not been there recently.

    • Yes -- that one flower field was very bright and beautiful. Although I've driven past on the frontage road, I've never actually stopped at San Onofre State Beach! Thanks for the suggestion -- and I'm sure there are other places along the coast where I could do short day trips like that (I think there's a state park in San Clemente as well).

  • HI Janet, I am with the others. Love the flower fields as well.

    You are the photographer.

    Blessings

    Frank

  • I would enjoy seeing the flower fields, but your beautiful pictures will have to do for now.

    Have a wonderful day.

    • The flower fields are spectacular in a good year -- and they do appear every year :-) ! They're a good day trip -- about 50 miles from here, which makes a nice coastal ride.

  • I miss the herons, but those rainbow flower fields are a fine replacement.

    • I miss the herons too -- they've gone elsewhere this year looking for food during el nino -- perhaps they'll come back next year when la nina replaces el nino! The flower fields are a bit farther away, but they do make a nice day trip!

  • I never can quite remember the name of ranunculus, but love them!!

  • XWelcom to your muse who allowed you to take this splendid rainbow colored fields .
    A bout field at this time in my are a in Somme -Flanders we comemore the 100th anniversary of the battle of 1916 in this area against Germans . The troops were English , australian , canada coming from all the British Empire and French toops of course .
    I was a true butchery of young men .
    Your photos male me recall this .
    Love
    Michel

    • In this country, the veterans sell red paper poppies on this anniversary -- I saw some last week for the first time in ages! My apologies for the sad memory recall -- but the Flower Fields are a different type of flower -- ranunculus -- and quite special in themselves.

  • Please , Excuse the midtakes .

  • I read that they are decommissioning the San Onofre power plant. They say it has nothing to do with the horrible accident in Japan; that it's just reached its life expectancy. Reading the reports of containment efforts at Chernobyl thirty years after that disaster, it's hard to imagine that anyone believes nuclear power is worth it. You portrayed quite the juxtaposition of cheery flower fields with a nuclear power plant in the background. Or maybe it's not San Onofre?

    • You're right that they are decommissioning San Onofre -- not because of accidents elsewhere, but because Edison replaced some cooling coils with new ones that failed almost immediately -- it wasn't safe, and they couldn't agree on how to correct the situation. The "unsafe zone" at Chernobyl is something like 100 miles in diameter -- I live about 15 miles from San Onofre! I was delighted when they made the decision to decommission it, but even that is not without danger. Today, they announced further efforts to get the spent rods removed from the area and properly stored before there is another accident. The tower in this post is a traditional power plant, coal operated (not a nuke). This is in Carlsbad, about 10 miles south of Oceanside -- San Onofre is about the same distance north of Oceanside, so some distance between the two. San Onofre looks more like two large concrete mushrooms on the ocean side of the freeway, with high tension power lines climbing the hill on the other side of the freeway. There's a State beach at San Onofre that is said to be very nice -- I'll have to explore that this summer sometime!. Meantime, I'm glad you enjoyed the flower fields!

  • I found you! Love these photos. The California landscape is worthwhile even if the flowers aren't what they should be.

    • It is a beautiful spot -- Maybe next year we'll get some rain and it will be colorful again!

  • great pictures. Cheers from Jersey City :)

  • Some beautiful country !!!

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