It has been five years since the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order was announced, these charts show how some things have recovered, and others have changed more permanently.

Originally Published: March 16, 2025 at 5:45 AM PDT

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

Where to stop and smell the wildflowers in California

The rain has subsided and it’s finally time to visit colorful wildflower displays across the region.

But uneven rain patterns across the state mean the wildflower situation will be inconsistent. Northern California, which got more rain than usual, will see big superblooms. In Southern California, not so much. But there are still flower-viewing options.

The flower fields need a good soaking in the winter to germinate, my colleague Jeanette Marantos wrote in her plants newsletter.

That’s not what happened this rainy season. Downtown L.A. has received 6.55 inches of rain since the water year began Oct. 1. That is below the average for this point in the water season, 11.88 inches.

That means we’re unlikely to see large-scale blooms.

“Wildflowers need three things to give us a copious spring bloom — seeds in the ground, plenty of moisture and a few weeks of mild, cool temperatures in the 60s and low 70s,” botanist Naomi Fraga told Jeanette.

Just because poppies won’t blanket our hills like in previous years, doesn’t mean there won’t be beautiful flowers to admire across the state.

Other perennial native plants such as monkey flowers, phlox, sages, buckwheats and manzanitas will be in bloom. Here’s how you can find them.

Call the Wild Flower Hotline, which provides free weekly updates on the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California.

Visit your local botanical garden. California Botanic Garden in Claremont, the state’s largest botanic garden devoted to California native plants, and the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, the second largest, are great options.

Native Coral bells grow at the California Botanic Garden in Claremont. These flowers are recommended for a native bouquet.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

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California Botanic Garden is hosting a free Native Plant Festival on March 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to highlight the beauty, variety and resiliency of the state’s native ecosystems.

Drive to see the Turkish flower fields. Farther south near San Diego, the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch boast 55 acres of ranunculus flowers that typically bloom for six to eight weeks.

Ranunculus flowers, also known as Persian buttercups, are native to Turkey but have been grown along the northern San Diego County coast for at least 90 years, Times reporter Christopher Reynolds wrote.

Through Mother’s Day, experience the magical ranunculus fields of bright pink, orange, yellow and white flowers at the ranch while also enjoying a 300-feet-by-170-feet American flag made from red, white and blue petunias; a 5-acre “sea of sunflowers;” and greenhouse displays of poinsettias and Cymbidium orchids.

The real superblooms, though, can be found in Northern California where rainfall has been above average all winter, setting the stage for a spring season of stunning wildflower superblooms.

The week’s biggest stories

A cargo ship at the Port of Los Angeles last year.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

California businesses are reeling from Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs

In Altadena and Pacific Palisades, burned lots are hitting the market

Tesla drivers are pushing back on Elon Musk

Federal lawmakers are calling on the Trump administration to nix a plan to shoot 450,000 owls, citing cost

• A bipartisan group of lawmakers want to cancel a controversial plan to kill up to nearly half a million barred owls to protect the vulnerable northern spotted owl, saying the cost could top $1 billion.
• Supporters of the plan say it’s needed to prevent the extinction of the spotted owl, which is being pushed out of its habitat by barred owls.

More big stories

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This week’s must reads

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

What do the dead have to say to the living?

The Life After Life Club in an Orange County retirement community explores trance channeling, the power of animal communication and near-death experiences. It recently hosted a psychic.

More great reads

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your weekend

If you search real hard you can still experience Joan Didion’s Los Angeles — which is not just a place but a vibe.

(Penske Media via Getty Images)

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Going out

Staying in

How well did you follow the news this week? Take our quiz.

(Times staff and wire photos; Armando Veve / For The Times)

Lady Gaga’s new album, “Mayhem,” comes just about a month before she’s set to headline which California desert music festival? Plus nine other questions from our weekly news quiz.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor

Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

The Pac-12 and Mountain West appear closer to resolving their legal fights over the latest conference realignment and more than $150 million in subsequent fees.

On Friday, both conferences filed a motion to stay their case in California, in which the Pac-12 sued the Mountain West over the $55 million in poaching fees owed to the Mountain West over the Pac-12’s additions of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State. Those moves were announced last fall and are set to happen in the summer of 2026.

“Today, at the request of the Mountain West Conference, the Pac-12 has agreed to file a mutual 60-day order to stay in the case to discuss mediation options,” the Pac-12 said in a statement. “It is important to state that we are in the early stages; no mediation dates have been set, and mediation is still uncertain. The Pac-12 remains confident in our position that the Poaching Penalty will be declared invalid and is committed to defending our stance.”

In late 2023, the Mountain West, Pac-12, Oregon State and Washington State signed a football scheduling agreement for the 2024 season. OSU and WSU lacked options following the set departures of 10 Pac-12 schools. As part of the agreement, the Pac-12 agreed to a set of escalating poaching fees if it added some, but not all, Mountain West schools. After the Mountain West and Pac-12 couldn’t reach an agreement for 2025 last summer, the Pac-12 added five Mountain West schools.

The Pac-12 filed its lawsuit against the Mountain West last September, arguing that poaching fees and agreement were forced upon them at a vulnerable time. The Mountain West said the conference and its two members made the agreement freely and made no objection at the time. In December, the Mountain West filed a motion to dismiss the case. That hearing is set for March 25, but the joint motion filed Friday asks to vacate that hearing and stay the case for 60 days.

Friday’s filing also noted that a separate case in Colorado involving Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State against the Mountain West over exit fees is also set to go to mediation. In that case, the three schools are challenging their Mountain West exit fees, which could range from $19 million to $38 million each.

“Plaintiff and Defendant are diligently working to schedule a mediation that could resolve this matter in its entirety,” the California filing reads. “In light of the parties’ agreement to engage in a global mediation with the parties involved in the related state court matter, the most efficient course is to stay this case in its entirety while the parties devote their efforts to resolving their disputes.”

Required reading

(Photo: Ray Carlin / USA Today Sports)