The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch

While many of us have visited Seattle for Tulip Festival, this year we witnessed a different bloom during our Spring getaway in San Diego.

Stopped for a coffee break at a Starbucks in Carlsbad Outlet Mall and spotted wonderful spread of vibrant, colorful flowers from the parking lot.

Walking around the parking lot we discovered that  these were The Flower Fields that have transformed the rolling hills of north San Diego County into one of the most spectacular and coordinated displays of natural color and beauty for over sixty years now. The nearly fifty acres of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus flowers that make up The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch® in Carlsbad, California, are in bloom for approximately six to eight weeks each year – from early March through early May. This year you could enjoy the fields between March 1st through May 14th, 2017 9am to 6pm daily.

This annual burst of color, which has become part of the area’s local heritage, also is one of nature’s official ways of announcing the arrival of spring in southern California.

Today, the fields are a direct result of over 85 years of floral cultivation that began when Luther Gage, an early settler and grower settled in the area in the early 1920’s. Mr. Gage brought Ranunculus seeds to the area and began growing them in his fields. The ranunculus is native to Asia Minor and a member of the buttercup family. Originally the flowers were single petal and ranged in shades of red and yellow. You can now enjoy the flowers in thirteen beautiful colors including red, gold, pink, yellow, orange, white, rose, salmon, cafe, purple, flame,merlot and picotee, (a mixture of variegated colors).

After you walked along the marked paths, taking so many pictures, you can also visit the rose garden, sweet pea maze, the orchid green house and butterfly garden.

All this comes for a price. Adult admission is $14 and admission for child between 3-12 years is $7. Wagon ride costs additional $5 per person.

So if you are looking for a great photo option in Southern California that is not the ocean, an amusement park or any of a hundred other commonly visited tourist spots, then make sure you stop here if you are in San Diego during the spring when the flowers are in bloom.