Along I-5 in Southern California, a beautiful bed of blooms stretches 55 acres across the landscape and is officially open for the season.
The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch have been captivating Californians with their incredible panoply of ranunculus flowers for decades, but have added other activities as well.
Native to Turkey, ranunculus are also known as the Persian buttercup, and over a long career of dazzling drivers and day-trippers, pioneer Edwin Frazee and other local growers have created every color of the rainbow.
They’ve grown along the California coastline for 100 years, but it took more than half of that in dedicated horticulture to create this masterpiece that’s open every year in March. Visitors can see them in all their glory for the next five to seven weeks, with admission priced at $27 for adults.
The field is open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, with other activities including a “sweet pea” maze, tractor rides, a sea of sunflowers, a giant American flag grown from petunias, green house orchid and poinsettia displays, a sculpture garden, and a butterfly encounter area for children.
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Tickets are sold only online, not on-site, and no reentry is allowed. Flowers and food are sold on-site.
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The final entry day is May 11th, which happens to be Mother’s Day, and might make a great trip.
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