Vast swaths of the California Wine Country landscape were torched by raging wildfires in October and then soaked with rain in early spring, creating the perfect conditions for a spectacular floral display.

In recent weeks, flowers have bloomed in colorful profusion amid carpets of fresh green grass, bringing new life to the burn scars across Sonoma and Napa counties.

Biologist Caitlin Cornwall has worked at the Sonoma Ecology Center for 20 years and leads wildflower walks in Sugarloaf. She has never seen a wildflower season like this in Sonoma County.

"It's off-the-charts in the burned areas," says Cornwall. "It just makes you joyful to see all these flowers, especially to see them rising up above the ashes. It's really a good thing for the soul."

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Explosions of wildflowers commonly follow wildfires. The blazes burn overgrown grasses, nutrient-hogging non-native plants and tree branches, leaving behind ash that nourishes the soil and creates a less-competitive environment for the wildflower seeds scattered in the dirt.

"The fire burned off accumulated grasses and debris that might have kept some wildflowers from germinating because the other plants took up all the space and sunlight," Hattie Brown, the natural resources program coordinator for Sonoma County Regional Parks, explains.

Cornwall adds: "And in many places, the fires thinned out the tree canopy so there's more sun hitting the ground and generally wildflowers grow in more sunny places."

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The recent rains in March and April only improved the situation, soaking the ash into the soil and keeping the seeds well-watered.

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The burst of blooms is peaking now in mid-April and is expected to last at least another four weeks. The flowers are everywhere, in the highway medians, under vines of grapes, on empty lots where houses once stood. The many state and county parks are also great places to see flowers, because there are often ranger-led walks and special hikes to lead you past the flower spectacles.

Lupine, California poppies and buttercups are putting on a floral display in Sonoma Valley Regional Park where the Nuns Fire tore through oak woodlands. In Shiloh Ranch Regional Park, scorched by the Tubbs Fire, lots of lilies are popping up.

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And Sugarloaf State Park, which was burned across 80 percent of its acreage, is awash in a burst of colorful blooms. Massive patches of whispering bells, which are known as "fire followers" and bloom after blazes, are growing all over the park.

Thick swaths of bird's eye gilia that weren't there last year are blanketing grasslands. Tall and lacy Fremont star lilies are popping up in the chaparral areas of the park. And in the more lush forest areas, there are unusual amounts of beautiful flowers in the lily family, fairy lantern and mission bells.

"I would say go now and go often," says Cornwall. "It's pretty amazing."

Brown adds that while the wildfires are especially spectacular in areas that burned, the lands that weren't impacted are also in full bloom.

"I hesitate to say it is the best wildflower season ever because of the fires, largely because even the parks that didn't burn, like Taylor Mountain Regional Park, have incredible wildflower displays right now," she says. "It is certainly a great season and a great time to be in the parks and experience the resilience and regeneration."