Sandra Faber is University Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Neighboring Lancaster has increased its population since the early 1980s to around 3 times its former level. Major retail has followed the population influx, centered around Palmdale's Antelope Valley Mall. The Antelope Valley is home to over 475,000, and is expected to reach 1,000,000 people by the year 2020.
Right now, kajillions of the delicate flower enliven the western Antelope Valley. The best, and safest, place to see them is the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, an 1,800-acre state park 15 miles west of Lancaster. Itâs not just poppies that come out after bountiful rains. There are swaths of a dozen different wildflowers, including yellow goldfield flowers, shocks of magenta filarees and purple pygmy-leaved lupine.