Colorful wildflowers are blooming at Carrizo Plain in SLO County. See the photos and video

Spring has rolled out a carpet of golden flowers across the Carrizo Plain, merging with a bright, blue sky on the horizon.

The breeze carries a hush across the landscape — stirring tall, dense stands of grass and muffling the chatter of tourists as they take photos of the bloom.

On Wednesday, one of those tourists was Doug “Dirt” Greenfield, a Santa Cruz-based musician who sings educational songs about nature in a band called Banana Slug String Band. He visits the Carrizo Plain for musical inspiration, he said.

“This is my second time camping there and it was fantastic,” Greenfield said on Wednesday. “It was like I was moving toward the Land of Oz. It was fabulous.”

A warm, rainy winter ushered in another colorful wildflower bloom at the national monument in eastern San Luis Obispo County. Maybe not a superbloom, but a spectacle nonetheless.

This year, the wildflowers are competing with a powerful growth of grasses, said Neil Havlik, the president of the Carrizo Plain Conservancy Board of Directors.

December rain coupled with warmer-than-usual temperatures caused non-native, annual grasses like wild oats, barley and brome to sprout with a higher density than usual.

“They can overwhelm or at least kind of hide the wildflowers, which tend to be more delicate,” Havlik said.

That means this year’s bloom likely won’t be as brilliant as last year’s display, which was so prominent, it was spotted from space by a NASA satellite.

What are all these wildflowers? A guide to 13 blooms you’re likely to see in SLO County

“It’s really nice now, and I think it’s going to get better. But it’s not going to match up to last year,” Havlik said.

Some of the best displays will likely be found in the Temblor Range, where thinner soil that’s less hospitable to grasses has the most potential to support a colorful wildflower bloom, Havlik said.

On the way, Shell Creek Road off Highway 58 regularly offers stunning displays for those who don’t want to make the full drive to the Carrizo Plain.

There, fields of golden wildflowers are also dominant, speckled with purples, blues and other shades.

The fields along Shell Creek Road are actually private property, but the owner allows public access. Just stay on the paths and avoid stepping on the flowers.

How long will wildflower bloom last?

Three types of yellow flowers are painting the hillside gold on the Carrizo Plain this year, giving the landscape a luminescent look.

One of those flowers is the hillside daisy, a bright yellow bloom with a woolly stem. Deeper yellow California goldfields are blanketing the lowlands near Soda Lake, Havlik said. Orange fiddlenecks, a yellow and orange flower shaped like tiny trumpets, are blooming in the grasslands.

Visitors may also spot tidytips, a delicate flower whose yellow petals are fringed with white. Baby blue eyes, a sky-blue flower with a white center, and purple owl’s clover are also making an appearance in the bloom.

“Right now the Carrizo Plain is great, but it’s all yellow,” Havlik said. “There’s very little of other flowers out there.”

Fortunately for flower fanatics, the bloom should last for about two more weeks, according to Havlik.

The Carrizo Plain received almost an inch of rain over the weekend, and more rain was in the forecast through Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

These showers should give the bloom a boost and usher in more colorful flowers that thrive later in the season, Havlik said.

Visitors can look forward to blazing star — a yellow, star-shaped flower with a fuzzy center, he said.

One of Havlik’s favorite flowers is a late-bloomer called desert candle. The plant is about 2 feet tall and has a singular, swollen stem topped with a magenta flower.

“That one shows up in funny places,” Havlik said, so it’s hard to predict where it will bloom each year.

The wildflower bloom will peak during the next two weeks, then “the early things will start to fade and won’t be quite as brilliant,” he said.

Tips for traveling to the Carrizo Plain

Havlik’s most important piece of advice to visitors: Stay on the trails.

Visitors who veer off-trail can trample the wildflowers, disturb habitat and expose themselves to rattlesnakes.

Havlik also warned visitors to obey closure signs and drive carefully on dirt roads. A handful of vehicles got stuck in the mud on Soda Lake Road last weekend — and there’s no official towing service located in the national monument.

“Don’t take chances on those dirt roads,” Havlik said. “If you get stuck, it’s going to be a long wait for the tow truck.”

Where to see other wildflower blooms in CA

Other parts of California are also enjoying a burst of color, with a wildflower bloom covering Death Valley.

Panamint Valley, Ubehebe Crater and Dante’s View are wildflower hotspots at the national park, according to a news release from The Oasis at Death Valley, a resort in the area.

“It’s an amazing sight to behold,” the release said. “One of the showiest flowers is desert gold, which has created brilliant patches of yellow blooms.”

Yellow and purple wildflowers are in full bloom at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, while the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is starting to see poppies, fiddleneck and red stem filaree, according to the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

Travelers can enjoy canterbury and school bells, arroyo lupine, black mustard, wild radish, and California poppies at Chino Hills State Park.

If the weather remains mild, a superbloom could blanket Red Rock Canyon State Park this spring.

Wildflowers are scattered about the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area, while apricot mallow is blooming in the Picacho State Recreation Area.