var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([’embed’]);

They called it the “Super Bloom.” A once-in-a-decade explosion of wildflowers painted the deserts of Southern California in March with brilliant fields of yellow, orange, white, red and purple, captivating photographers and hikers from around the country.

And now it’s the Bay Area’s turn.

The soaking wet winter that put California’s suffocating drought into the history books is also expected to bring a rich bounty of wildflowers to Bay Area parks and preserves as sunshine and warm weather arrive in earnest during the coming days and weeks.

Already, patches of orange poppies, purple lupine and bright yellow mustard flowers are appearing along Northern California freeways, backyards and hiking trails from Mount Diablo near Walnut Creek to Henry Coe State Park near Morgan Hill, and from Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz to Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County.

“It is a little early, but all indications are that it’s going to be a tremendous year,” said Kevin Damstra, supervising naturalist for Sunol Regional Wilderness, a unit of the East Bay Regional Park District. “We are starting to see wildflowers popping up in areas we haven’t had because of the drought. We’re in for a beautiful display.”

The wildflower peak this year around the Bay Area should run from mid-April into May, he said.

Damstra said the 6,859-acre Sunol park, which is hosting its annual spring wildflower festival on Sunday, April 9, with hikes, music and crafts, typically has some of the best wildflower displays every year in the East Bay.

Rain and cool weather in March have delayed the Bay Area wildflower season by a few weeks, he said.

But already at Sunol Regional Wilderness, a rugged, oak-studded expanse of land east of Fremont, buttercups and blue-eyed grass are out in force. Mid-spring flowers like purple sanicle, checker lilies and some of the lupine species are starting to arrive.

“If you go out right now, there are a great number of flowers out there,” Damstra said. “People won’t be disappointed. I anticipate it will only get better over the next month or month and a half.”

Brian Linde and Jodie Ruland of Oakland hiked with their dog at the park recently and marveled at the majestic spring panorama, a scene of puffy white clouds, bright green hillsides and rushing water through Alameda Creek. They described the early part of the wildflower season as a scavenger hunt, but said they spotted ample amounts of poppies during their hike.

“Get out of your car,” said Ruland. “You are going to see stuff. Right here, there are four kinds of flowers,” she said, pointing to the ground. “They are small, but still beautiful.”

Many parks are capitalizing on the public’s interest this year — not only because of the amazing photographs of the “Super Bloom” that filled Facebook, Instagram and Twitter from Anza Borrego, Joshua Tree, Antelope Valley and other Southern California desert parks, but also because the drought has Northern Californians longing for the vibrant spring displays.

“Last I heard, we were at 25 or 26 inches for rainfall this winter,” said Duke Heberling, supervising ranger at Pacheco State Park east of Gilroy. “Our annual average is about 8 inches. We’re still very green out here.”

Pacheco State Park, which hosted a wildflower day Saturday, has been barren and dry for most months back to 2012 — an arid landscape surrounding much of San Luis Reservoir. But as the reservoir filled up this winter — from 10 percent last August to 100 percent today — the hills have bloomed.

“We had a pretty good year last year, and this year seems to be better,” Heberling said. “There’s a huge variety. There’s like an 80-acre field of yellow mustard. It’s just amazing.”

Cindy Roessler, a biologist with the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, said some of the best places in the Peninsula and South Bay for wildflowers in the coming weeks will be the Woods Trail at Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve near Los Gatos, Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve along Skyline Boulevard and Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve in the hills of Redwood City.

John Henderson and his wife, Rose, with camera in tow, were out at Edgewood last week, looking for the elusive purple mouse ears, a distinctive lilac-colored plant found in serpentine soils of California and Oregon.

“It’s not a large bloom yet,” he said. “They’re just starting. But it’s a good year to be hopeful.”

Nearby, Diane Thomson of Mountain View was hiking along the Sylvan Trail, having just come back from a wildflower trip to Anza Borrego State Park in eastern San Diego County.

““We saw lots of flowers. All kinds of desert wildflowers. It really was worth the trip,” she said, pausing to point out a bush of purple lupine.

“Isn’t that gorgeous?” she said. “It feels good to be out in nature any time of year. But spring gives us the added benefits of wildflowers.”