Carlsbad is no Keukenhof! But
then again, it does not claim to be the largest flower garden in the world. It
is not even the largest garden in USA. In fact it is not a garden at all! It is
a 50-acre commercial farmland that grows the world’s largest collection of
giant tecolote ranunculus flowers. What makes this place a tourist hot spot
during spring are the blooming of about 7 million of these ranunculus flowers.
Just to add to the commercial value, they have placed the Pacific Ocean in the
backdrop J Oh, and some rolling hills for good measure! 
Such a package is bound to
attract a horde of photophiliacs and nature enthusiasts. Ramya and I believe
that we have genes for both traits and may have passed on some to Achyuta. A
small warning sounded somewhere inside that I had a presentation coming up in a
week. But hey, spring comes only once a year…it was a weekend…and it is not socially acceptable to talk back to
voices in your head. So, we all set off on a sunny and clear morning, driving
down south on I5 towards San Diego. When we reached San Juan Capistrano, on
Pacific Coast Highway, the weather magically changed to low flying mists that
were intent on washing away all the fine particles and ozone into the Pacific
Ocean. After a little less than a 2 hr drive, we parked outside the picturesque
Carlsbad flower fields.
If one word can describe the
view, it comes out something like stugorcolorifantabulous! This was in spite of
the fact that it was not the best day for photography, thanks to the gloomy
weather. But the large expanse of multi-colored flower field and the festive
atmosphere more than made up for it. All support staff - at the ticket counter,
wagon-drivers, flower pickers, flower- and fashion-police persons - were 60+
with energy levels of 20- and warm smiles of toddlers. It was very obvious they
were around to enjoy themselves rather than to make ends meet to support the
ever beefing college tuition. There were stalls of extravagant floral hats,
curios of all sorts, strawberry shortcakes, fresh popcorn, a sweet pea maze,
Santa playground and a rose garden. The Red Hat Society had a rendezvous and
there were hundreds of Red Hatters in a large spectrum of stylish outfits.
Almost everyone was enjoying the live bands playing the Blues. Kids were
running around and the parents were busy trying to figure out how to get the
best shot of their kids amidst the flowers.
Ah! Yes, the flowers! The field
is on a slope that has its nadir at the entrance. Since we wanted to enjoy the
floral treats at our own leisurely pace, we decided to walk around, instead of using
the wagon ride. There are ranunculus flowers of 13 colors (red, gold, pink,
yellow, orange, white, rose, salmon, picotee, café, purple, flame and merlot),
all bouqueted with their own kind to form nice discreet rows. In the middle of
each colorful row, there is an inlet to make photo memories. This works well
both for the visitors as well as the flowers, that are protected by an
additional green tape. We slowly walked up the trail that was slightly marred by
the presence of houses and a resort on top of the hill. Nothing personal, but
they ruined the view and quite a few photos too! When we reached the top, we
were quite envious of them. They probably had one of the best views in Southern
California, at least in Spring. It was breathtaking and would have been better
if not for the clouds. The hill rolled down with colorful ranunculus to meet up
with a large Dutch-style windmill across the street and tapered off at the
horizon into the Pacific Ocean! We enjoyed the view for a long time as we sauntered
to the other side of the hemi-field.
On our way down, we saw some of
the farm employees picking flowers and loading them on to a truck. It is
ironical that the flowers that treat hundreds of thousands of eyes for 2 months
are allowed to dry up in the sun to take nature’s course to their ends. Apparently,
this results in superior bulb crop for the next season. Only about 2% of the
flowers are picked up and sold. So how do they make money? It is the bulbs that
rake up the revenues! They are recovered at the end of summer and sold to customers
around the world.
By then Achyuta had seen too many
wagons go by us and was insisting on having a go himself. So, we headed towards
the long line of wagon wannabes. One of the staff chatted with us and was kind
enough to point out the best seats on the wagon. On we hopped and the wagon
took us around the perimeter of the farm field. While it took us 4 hrs to walk
1/4th of the area by foot, the wagon ride brought us back in 10
mins. We did see the artist’s garden and the American floral flag, which were
on the far south of the field. Only Achyuta had more fun this time around J We
walked around the stalls and Ramya tried on a few fancy hats. We helped
ourselves to some pop corn and settled to listen to the Blues. After downing a
couple of cheese bean burritos at Rubio’s and buying some fresh strawberries
from the adjacent farm, we said our byes to the giant ranunculus.
These colorful flowers have been heralding
the Spring in Southern California since the 1920s, although the present establishment
has a relatively short two decade history. They will continue to enthrall more visitors
for another 3 weekends this year. So, if you are around the region, it is well
worth a trip to enjoy nature at its colorful best. Make sure you take a lot of
sunshine along J
