Record-breaking heat cooks, kills California poppy bloom
string of hot days and record-breaking heat have destroyed a large bloom of poppies at the California Poppy Reserve in the Antelope Valley.
What was the densest poppy germination anyones seen in a decade was cooked as the sun glared down on the Mojave Desert. The large bloom was reduced to a sprinkling of orange petals that shriveled on the stalk on the south slope of the natural reserve.
The north slopes, however, are angled away from the sun and covered with the best patches of wildflowers, including poppies, goldfields, forget-me-nots, gold cups, cream cups, owls clover and lupine.
Wow, Mother Nature pulled the rug out from under us, California State Park officials said. We're astonished to find that our big bloom of desert-adapted, ruggedly persistent poppies has been all but cooked away by the unseasonable heat we've had over the last week.
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http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-heat-california-poppy-bloom-20150317-story.html