California Nature Guide: March 2026
March is the great California wildflower month. Poppies blaze across the Antelope Valley and the foothills, the deserts of the south reach their superbloom peak in a wet year, and the green hills are at their richest. Spring migration begins to build along the coast.
What to look for this week
- Snow geese, white-fronted geese, and pintail jam the Sacramento and San Joaquin valley refuges; sandhill cranes roost near Lodi and Cosumnes.
- San Joaquin Valley navel and Cara Cara oranges and easy-peel Satsuma mandarins are at their winter peak.
- Western monarchs hang in clustered curtains in the coastal groves at Pismo Beach, Pacific Grove, and Natural Bridges.
- The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks around January 3 in a brief, sharp burst, best after midnight from a dark desert site.
Birds This Month
March in California is the changing of the guard, as the last of winter departs and spring migration builds. The great valley waterfowl flocks thin out — the snow geese, white-fronted geese, and sandhill cranes pull north off the Central Valley refuges through the month, and the tundra swans head for the Arctic. In their place come the first northbound migrants: tree, violet-green, and cliff swallows return — the famous swallows of Mission San Juan Capistrano are part of this same northward push — and the first rufous and Allen's hummingbirds move up the coast.
The resident birds are deep into breeding. The endemic yellow-billed magpies are on nests in the valley oaks, oak titmice, California scrub-jays, and Nuttall's woodpeckers are nesting, and Anna's hummingbirds are already on their second broods. The chaparral resounds with the song of wrentits, California thrashers, and spotted towhees, and coveys of California quail are pairing off.
On the coast, the northbound gray whales with calves hug the shore past Point Reyes and Monterey, and the seabird colonies on the offshore rocks begin to fill. Inland, raptors are nesting — red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, and great horned owls are all on eggs or young.
This month's tip: a wildflower walk in the foothills doubles as a birding walk now — the flowering chaparral and oak woodland are full of singing residents and the first returning migrants, with poppies and lupine at your feet.
What's Blooming
March is the wildflower month California is famous for. The state flower, the California poppy, reaches its glorious peak — orange sheets blanket the hillsides of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve near Lancaster and roll across the Sierra foothills, the Coast Ranges, and roadsides statewide. In a wet year the deserts crescendo into superbloom: Anza-Borrego and the Carrizo Plain National Monument can erupt in vast washes of color — goldfields, tidytips, sky lupine, phacelia, and desert sand verbena painting whole valleys gold, purple, and white.
The grasslands and foothills join in: lupines of many species, owl's clover, baby blue eyes, fiddlenecks, cream cups, and the magenta of Chinese houses fill the oak woodland and prairie. Vernal pools ring with meadowfoam and downingia, and the chaparral glows with ceanothus blue.
Where to see it: the Antelope Valley reserve for poppies, the Carrizo Plain for the Central Valley's last great wildflower grassland, and Anza-Borrego or the desert state parks for the superbloom. Check each park's wildflower update before you go — bloom timing and intensity swing with the rains. Stay on trails, never trample the flowers for a photo, and go early for the best light.
Garden This Month
March is a pivotal month in the California garden, the warm-season transition organized around the last frost and the closing window of winter rain. On the frost-free coast, set out tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant and direct-sow beans, squash, cucumbers, and corn now; in the Central Valley, harden off and transplant toward month's end as the frost date passes. Getting warm crops in early matters here, because California's dry summer means the most reliable establishment happens while there is still moisture in the ground.
There is still time for a last round of cool-season crops in the cooler zones — peas, lettuce, spinach, and root crops — and for planting potatoes and onions. March is also a fine month to finish planting California natives while the soil is still damp, and to set up summer irrigation, because the rains will soon end and most of the state will see little to none until autumn. Mulch heavily to conserve soil moisture, feed citrus and roses, and stay ahead of the fast-growing spring weeds. Plant summer-blooming annuals and pinch back perennials for bushier growth.
Zone 10a (mild coast, Los Angeles basin): frost is past on the coast — set out tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and squash now, and direct-sow beans, cucumbers, corn, and melons as the soil warms. This is prime planting time before the dry season; mulch everything to hold the last of the winter moisture.
Zone 8a (Sierra foothills, higher inland valleys): frost risk lingers into spring at elevation — start warm-season transplants indoors and plant cool-season crops (peas, lettuce, brassicas, potatoes, onions) outdoors now. Hold the tomatoes and peppers until the danger of frost has reliably passed in April.
Zone 9b (Central Valley, inland Southern California): the last frost passes mid-to-late March in much of the valley — harden off and transplant tomatoes and peppers toward month's end, and direct-sow beans and squash once the soil warms. Keep frost cloth ready for a late cold night, and finish the cool-season harvest.
What's at the Farmers Market
March is a bridge month at the California market, the winter citrus overlapping the first true taste of spring. Navel oranges, Cara Caras, blood oranges, and easy-peel mandarins are still excellent, and Meyer lemons are abundant — choose fruit heavy for its size and store it cool. The first spring vegetables arrive alongside them: Castroville artichokes from the Monterey Bay reach their spring peak, tender asparagus appears from the Delta and the San Joaquin, and the first English peas, fava beans, and green garlic show up.
The cool-season vegetables are still strong — broccoli, cauliflower, spring lettuces, radishes, carrots, and a rainbow of chard and kale — and the very first strawberries from Oxnard and the warmer Southern California fields begin trickling in. Hass avocados from Southern California are entering their long peak.
For selection and storage: choose artichokes that are heavy and squeak when squeezed and refrigerate them bagged; snap a stalk of asparagus to test for freshness and keep the bunch upright in a little water; pick strawberries fully red and use them fast. March shopping rewards the early bird — the first asparagus and strawberries are the first to vanish.
Night Sky This Month
March is the handoff between California's brilliant winter sky and the rising spring constellations, and the spring equinox around March 20 balances day and night. The state's dark-sky parks are excellent now before the summer haze: Death Valley and Joshua Tree in the south, Anza-Borrego, and the Sierra foothills offer clear, dark spring evenings, while public observatories at Mount Wilson and Lick reopen their busier season. The high desert nights are mild and steady.
Early in the evening, Orion and Sirius still blaze in the southwest — the last of the great winter show — while the spring sky takes over in the east. The backwards-question-mark Sickle of Leo the Lion, led by bright Regulus, climbs the eastern sky, and the Big Dipper rides high in the north. Use its handle to "arc to Arcturus," the orange star of Boötes rising in the east, a sure sign that spring has arrived, and "spike to Spica" in Virgo below it.
There is no major meteor shower in March. For this year's planet positions and the darkest nights around the new moon, see the printable California night-sky guide, tailored to the state's latitudes.
Butterflies & Pollinators
March is when butterflies return to California in force, riding the wildflower bloom. The dispersing western monarchs have left the coastal groves and are laying eggs on the first milkweed across the lowlands and foothills, beginning the spring generations that will repopulate the West. In a wet desert spring, the great painted lady migration peaks — millions can stream north out of the Mojave and Colorado deserts across Southern California, a moving river of butterflies that some Californians remember for years.
The wildflower hillsides are alive with spring species. The Sara orangetip dances over foothill slopes, the anise swallowtail and the dark pipevine swallowtail patrol canyon bottoms, the California sister begins flying in the oak woodland, and small blues, checkerspots, and duskywings work the poppies and lupine. The mourning cloak and California tortoiseshell are active, the latter sometimes in mass flights in the foothills and mountains.
To help them: have native milkweed growing for the egg-laying monarchs, and let the spring wildflowers — poppies, lupine, ceanothus, and wild mustards — feed the surge of butterflies and their caterpillars. Plant a nectar succession of native buckwheats, yarrow, and sages to carry pollinators from the spring bloom into the dry summer ahead.
Trees This Month
March is leaf-out month for California's deciduous trees and the height of the orchard bloom. The great valley oaks push their fresh green leaves and dangle yellow-green catkins over the Central Valley, the bigleaf maples hang chartreuse flower clusters in the stream canyons, and the foothill cottonwoods and willows leaf out fully. The California buckeye, the earliest native to break dormancy, is already in full leaf, getting a jump on the dry summer.
In the valley, the orchard bloom rolls on: the almonds have finished, but peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, and the walnuts are flowering or pushing leaves. The native flowering trees add their color — western redbud studs the foothill chaparral with rose-magenta blossom on bare branches, and the blue oaks begin their late leaf-out across the dry foothill slopes. The evergreens carry on: the coast redwoods and giant sequoias are growing with the spring, and the coast live oaks begin their own quiet leaf exchange, dropping old leaves as new ones push and releasing oak pollen on the warm spring afternoons.
Go deeper with the California guides
The complete California birding, native-plant, wildflower, and night-sky guides — or the whole year in one bundle.
Same month elsewhere: March in Colorado · March in Connecticut · March in Delaware