EditorialDr. Naomi Fraga, a botanist with the nonprofit California Botanic Garden, drives her Toyota Tacoma along a dirt path in Kern County, Calif., on April 28, 2023. (Daniel Dorsa/The New York Times)
EditorialDr. Naomi Fraga, a botanist with the nonprofit California Botanic Garden, drives her Toyota Tacoma along a dirt path in Kern County, Calif., on April 28, 2023. (Daniel Dorsa/The New York Times)
EditorialDr. Naomi Fraga, a botanist with the nonprofit California Botanic Garden, drives her Toyota Tacoma along a dirt path in Kern County, Calif., on April 28, 2023. (Daniel Dorsa/The New York Times)
EditorialDr. Naomi Fraga, a botanist with the nonprofit California Botanic Garden, drives her Toyota Tacoma along a dirt path in Kern County, Calif., on April 28, 2023. (Daniel Dorsa/The New York Times)
EditorialDr. Naomi Fraga, a botanist with the nonprofit California Botanic Garden, drives her Toyota Tacoma along a dirt path in Kern County, Calif., on April 28, 2023. (Daniel Dorsa/The New York Times)
EditorialRancher's fireweed wildflowers grow at Carrizo Plain National Monument in Santa Margarita, Calif., March 25, 2023. (Stella Kalinina/The New York Times)
EditorialRancher's fireweed wildflowers grow at Carrizo Plain National Monument in Santa Margarita, Calif., March 25, 2023. (Stella Kalinina/The New York Times)
EditorialRancher's fireweed wildflowers grow at Carrizo Plain National Monument in Santa Margarita, Calif., March 25, 2023. (Stella Kalinina/The New York Times)
EditorialRancher's fireweed wildflowers grow at Carrizo Plain National Monument in Santa Margarita, Calif., March 25, 2023. (Stella Kalinina/The New York Times)
EditorialRancher's fireweed wildflowers grow at Carrizo Plain National Monument in Santa Margarita, Calif., March 25, 2023. (Stella Kalinina/The New York Times)
EditorialRancher's fireweed wildflowers grow at Carrizo Plain National Monument in Santa Margarita, Calif., March 25, 2023. (Stella Kalinina/The New York Times)
EditorialWildflowers on the beach at Kaikoura, a town whose name means “eat crayfish” in the Maori language, in New Zealand, December 2022. (Susan Wright/The New York Times)
EditorialSagebrush and wildflowers by the banks of a river near Cottonwood Guest Ranch in Wells, Nev. on Aug. 3, 2022.(Niki Chan Wylie/The New York Times)
EditorialA boutique hotel in the gardens of Convento di Santa Maria di Costantinopoli in Puglia, Italy, July 5, 2022. (Susan Wright/The New York Times)
EditorialVolodymyr Titulenko’s “Spring in Rusaniv,” which shows blossoming wildflowers in the foreground and flaming Russian tanks in the background, is displayed at his home in Rusaniv, Ukraine, on June 7, 2022. (Nicole Tung/The New York Times)