Special to Road Trips for Gardeners

For more than sixty years, Mother Nature has transformed the rolling hills of North San Diego County into one of the country’s most spectacular and coordinated displays of natural color and beauty.

The fifty-five acres of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus, a flower renowned for its large, double-petaled blooms that sit atop tall, straight stems, comes to life again at The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, California, beginning March 1, 2023. The Southern California attraction’s 2023 theme of “Live Colorfully” is fitting as the seemingly endless rows of color-coordinated blooms create a strikingly beautiful backdrop that immerses visitors in floral splendor.

“Visitors can’t help but smile here,” says Fred Clarke, General Manager of The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch. “We are first and foremost, a sustainable working farm, and each spring The Flower Fields invites our visitors to ‘live colorfully’ via our rainbow of ranunculus. It is our distinct honor to serve as a multi-hued backdrop to so many family trips, romantic dates and even proposals and weddings. We look forward to all the memories in the making that 2023 holds.”

For the 2023 season, The Flower Fields is thrilled to introduce new events like the Meditation and Sound Healing Workshop, a Flower Design Workshop, and Toddler and Me Yoga Story Time themed around plants and flora. Flower frolickers and annual visitors will be greeted by the return of fan-favorite programming like the live outdoor music series, Tea in the Garden, and Flower Flow Yoga among other experiences like the American Flag of Flowers, Tractor Wagon Ride, Artist Gardens, a Sweet Pea Maze and Cymbidium Orchid Greenhouse.

Special events will also be sprinkled throughout the season, from Kid’s Day March 25, a Canon Photography Workshop April 16 with the season capped off with its iconic Mother’s Day Celebration May 14.

The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch are located at 5704 Paseo Del Norte, Carlsbad, California. Single ticket admission is $23 for adults, $21 for seniors 60+ and military, $12 for children 3–10, and free for children under three. Season passes are $48 for adults, $44 for seniors 60+, $24 for children 3–10, with group tours also available.

The ranunculus is native to Asia Minor and a member of the buttercup family. Originally the flowers were single petal contact and ranged in shades of red and yellow. The beautiful colors and fullness of the flowers you see now are due to the careful selection done by Edwin Frazee over many years. If nature provided a full flower or an unusual color, Mr. Frazee would save the seed and plant them the next year. This resulted in full flowers in thirteen beautiful colors including picotee, (a mixture of variegated colors) that we have today.

About the Flower Fields

Located in the City of Carlsbad in North San Diego County in the heart of one of the most beautiful and productive working flower ranch areas in North America, Carlsbad Ranch is located less than one half-mile from the ocean, within five minutes of several prominent hotels, and a short drive from two international airports (Orange County and San Diego). A working flower and specialty crop ranch, The Flower Fields is an essential contributor to California agriculture and related jobs.

The fields today are a direct result of nearly 85 years of floral cultivation that began with Luther Gage, an early settler and horticulturist that settled in the area in the early 1920’s. Mr. Gage brought Ranunculus seeds to the area and began growing them in his fields next to Frank Frazee’s small vegetable farm in South Oceanside. In 1933 Frank Frazee also started growing ranunculus and introduced his son Edwin to the art of seeding, cultivating and irrigating the pretty but not yet popular flower. At the age of 16, Edwin Frazee quit high school to work full time on his father’s burgeoning flower operation.

Edwin Frazee made several moves over the years but in 1965 he moved his ranunculus along with gladiolus growing operation to the current site, land owned by the Ecke Family of Encinitas. They had previously used the land to grow their poinsettias but in the 60’s they moved all propagation into greenhouses. Paul Ecke Jr. and Edwin were both flower farmers which helped form a strong bond between the two men. When Edwin decided to retire in 1993 Paul convinced him to stay on as a consultant to a new grower to carry on his work. Paul brought in Mellano and Company, another long-time flower growing family, to take over the growing of the beautiful ranunculus. Paul Jr. also looked at tourism as an important way to keep the fields financially viable as field grown agriculture had become increasingly more difficult over the years. The stage was set for the enduring preservation and promotion of this enchanting cultural emblem of Carlsbad. Hence, The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch was born!

In 2002 Paul Ecke Jr. died, two years later Edwin Frazee passed away. Paul’s goal to bring people closer to agriculture and Edwin’s wish to have ranunculus live on beyond his death were achieved. Their presence is felt each spring when the ranunculus bloom into blazing fields of color.

(Photos courtesy of The Flower Fields)