"It's when botanists leave the field covered in pollen," Fraga said. "Everywhere you go you see profusions, blankets of flowers for miles and miles. You see waves of pollinators like painted lady [butterfly] migrations and sphinx moths. It's overwhelming because everything is so ... alive."

So is it the pollen that makes us all go gaga about extraordinary wildflower displays? Or the thrill of seeing our normally staid hills streaked with bright color, as jumbled and vivid as a toddler's smock after an afternoon of fingerpainting?

"Flowers are definitely something easy to love ... and people are attracted to the colors because we just love a show," she said. "But for botanists, I think it's the fleeting nature of wildflowers. It's like you're in a race to see everything you can see, because you never know when you'll see it again. It's the same phenomenon as a big flash sale .. it's not available all year round."

The treasure-hunt aspect is enticing, Meyer said, but he sees other factors too, starting with humans just being wired to seek out large-scale biological events, like the fall colors in New England or bison roaming the Great Plains.

"California's wildflower blooms are one of the most impressive botanical events on the planet," he said. "They're so vast and dense and abundant they can be viewed from space, so it's natural people are drawn to that because it's so awe inspiring."

That appreciation is also in our DNA, he said. "We evolved with plants, and many California wildflower seeds are edible, like chia (Salvia columbariae) , so Indigenous Americans would look on those fields and say, 'There's our food for the next many months.'"

But mostly, Meyer sees the annual displays "as a salve to our urban world of computers and freeways and cubicles."

"They allow us to connect with our optimism," he said.

"It's like a metaphor for life; a reminder that good things lie in wait. We might not see them, but the seeds are there, under the ground, ready to bloom in great abundance ... so don't give up hope."

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