Planning a California trip Spring 2010. What is the best month for seeing flowers, planted and wild, along the PCH from San Diego to San Francisco? How many days?

See the tulips in Wilhelmena Garden and all the flowers in Golden Gate Park in San Fran. You might want to go a bit further and see Muir Woods, although not really that many flowers.

You used to be able to see fields of flowers off the 405 freeway at Carlsbad. Now it is more of a tourist attraction with an admission fee. My mom used to love to go every year. http://www.theflowerfields.com/

Filoli http://www.filoli.org/ has beautiful gardens, and nearby at Edgewood Park, there are fields of wildflowers to walk through. http://www.friendsofedgewood.org/

I think the Solvang area has some nice local fields of flowers. It's a pretty town with special attention to tulips as well. http://www.solvangusa.com/

My picture of the Carlsbad flower fields got published in Fodors California! You have to detour off the freeway, springtime is best (say March/April).

There are also flower fields around Lompoc (west of Solvang) that are a bit later and run longer, May/June is best but there are fields throughout the summer.
The Chamber publishes this map

http://69.89.22.138/~lompocco/images...tour%20map.pdf

If you're coming in spring there is also the California Poppy Preserve in Lancaster, but it isn't on the coast road. Still worth seeing if there is a good year...and I got another pic published for that one!

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=627

Lastly I recommend the website desertusa.com for wildflower reports, especially check into reports for the hillsides/deserts around San Diego leading up to your visit. It is looking like it may be a good year.

http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/wildupdates.html

Glorious magentic iceplants in Pacific Grove (Monterey) area, right along the seashore. Approximately mid-April to late-May.

http://www.gardenworldimages.com/Det...e&mronly=False


http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationP...alifornia.html

BTW, "PCH" is only in Southern California until Oxnard. North of that to just past San Francisco it's called the "Cabrillo Highway". If you say "Highway 1" that'll save those of us who are just awake from doing a doubletake.

We were in the SF area in early May, and the Marin Headland was all blooming with wild flowers as well as Tomales Bay. It was breathtaking.