What’s the ‘superbloom’ and where can you see it after weeks of heavy rains in Sonoma County?

Sonoma County’s grasslands and winding trails will soon burst with electric-gold California poppies and vibrant blue irises to signal the coming of spring. While that’s typical, this year’s bloom is suggested to be one of the best in years.

Some areas in central and Southern California have already witnessed this “superbloom,” an explosion of wildflowers caused by this winter’s storms dumping rain and snow across very dry areas.

So, does this mean the flowery phenomena will emerge in Sonoma County?

Local experts say we won’t technically experience a “superbloom,” since luckily our blooms are decent every year due to the temperate climate. But this year, fields and meadows will especially dazzle with a variety of wildflowers, starting the end of March into mid-April.

“We’ll see an impressive wildflower bloom this year,” said Len Mazur, Sonoma County Regional Parks botanist. “It should be one of the best over the last 10 years.”

What’s more is that all the continued rain means Sonoma County will see its wildflowers bloom for longer, Mazur said.

People across California get excited for the blooms. In Riverside County, city officials closed trails, citing safety and protection concerns, to a popular wildflower sighting at Walker Canyon, which drew thousands of wildflower enthusiasts in 2019 to bear witness to the glorious golden poppy “superbloom.”

These vibrant flowers, whose season begins February, peaks in April and lasts through July, grow without being seeded and in varied colors and different forms — there’s the tall, butter-yellow buttercups, the vivid blue pacific hound’s tongue whose color fades into lavender, or the shooting star, the 1-inch long dangling flowers whose leaves grow in a rosette.

Over 1,000 wildflower species exist in Sonoma County. Find them in habitats like oak woodlands, grasslands, coastal bluffs, beach dunes, scrublands and other niche places. The best blooms are in shallow soils, rocky areas or recently burned areas, said Michelle Halbur, preserve ecologist at Pepperwood Preserve outside Santa Rosa.

“They’re hopeful and bring delicate joy to me,” Halbur said. “When you’re walking, hiking and see that patch of color — it makes me so grateful to live in such a beautiful county.”

Sonoma County may see rarer wildflowers come to life this year, too. Wildflowers grow in vernal pools — shallow pools often found on grasslands from winter to spring that are considered rare and endangered, Mazur said.

Luckily, pockets of wildflowers grow across Sonoma County. If you’re looking to go on a wildflower voyage explore the 820-acre park North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park for oak woodlands and dainty buttercups. In Guerneville, find early bloom species — pale pink milkmaids and colorfully spiked lupine at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve.

You can reach Staff Writer Mya Constantino at mya.constantino@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @searchingformya.