I’ve lived in the San Diego area for over thirty years. Each spring, I make plans to visit the Flower Fields of Carlsbad. I feel the same joy today as I did on my first visit. The Flower Fields are a local landmark featuring a rainbow of ranunculus. Back in the 1920’s, horticulturist Luther Gage brought ranunculus seeds to the area and began growing them in his fields next to Frank Frazee’s small vegetable farm. In 1933, Frank Frazee also started growing ranunculus and introduced his son, Edwin, to the art of seeding, cultivating and irrigating the pretty and soon-to-be popular flower.
The ranunculus is native to Asia Minor and a member of the buttercup family. Originally the flowers were single petal and ranged in shades of red and yellow. The beautiful colors and fullness of the flowers now in the fields are due to the careful selection done by Edwin Frazee over the years.
If nature provided a full flower or an unusual color, Edwin saved the seeds and planted them the next year. This resulted in thirteen beautiful colors including picotee (a mixture of colors in the photo below).
The admission of $14 (kids $7) may see high, but you can spend hours wandering the fifty acres which also include rose gardens, orchids, a sweet pea maze, poinsettias, and much more.
Photo credits to my daughter, the botanist, who knows how to capture nature’s beauty more skillfully than I can capture it. To enjoy the full impact of the photos, click to enlarge them.
