It draws more than 150-thousand visitors every year, a springtime tradition that’s become one of the most recognizable flower displays in the world.
And once you see it, you understand why — Rolling hills painted in rows of red, pink, orange and yellow, a view the staff says never gets old.
For about ten weeks each spring, this hillside above Carlsbad Ranch transforms into nearly 80 million Giant Tecolote ranunculus flowers.
And this year, they’ve bloomed a little early. Even though New Year’s Day brought rain, the rest of winter stayed relatively dry, something the flowers actually loved.
“It allowed our field to germinate quickly, meaning get green faster than normal, so really we're seeing the same kind of flowers in terms of number but spread farther across our fields sooner," Taylos Moss, Operations manager with the Carlsbad Flower Fields says.
For those visiting there’s more to do than just take pictures:
Live weekend music, yoga sessions, workshops and wellness classes and for the first time ever, a 5k race.
The Butterfly Encounter is also bigger this year, now a 1,000-square-foot greenhouse filled with hundreds of butterflies. Visitors can walk and feed the exotic species like the Blue Morpho and the Emperor Birdwing.
Peak bloom is expected between the first and third week of April. A reminder that tickets need to be purchased in advance on their website.
Until then, every week brings a little more color to the hillside. And, if early blooms are any sign, spring has officially sprung in Carlsbad!
