A sea of beautiful pink Spring blossoms right in the Bay Area, just as spectacular as any flower field, and just as beautiful as cherry blossoms!
One of the best things about Spring has to be all the beautiful flowers that bloom during the season! One of my favorites is the cherry blossoms that bloom every March – April. They seem to be all over Japan and Washington D.C., but only a few where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. Are there any similar pink Spring blossoms in the Bay Area? I thought I was out of luck…until I discovered that there are, in fact, peach orchards with equally beautiful pink peach blossoms right here in the Bay Area! A truly spectacular sight that’s among the most beautiful I’ve ever seen!
*This website contains affiliate links. We also use cookies to improve our website. Please see our Privacy Policy & Disclosure for details.
Peach Blossoms Bloom Time
Peach blossoms typically bloom starting the beginning of March, although bloom times will vary each year. These pictures were taken in mid-March and they were spectacular! Peach blossoms bloom just after the famed white almond blossoms, which typically bloom mid-February for just a few weeks. (Almond blossoms can be found in Fresno County, Dixon, Woodland and Manteca.)
The Orchards of Brentwood, California
The city we visited is called Brentwood, a mixed residential and farming community in the East Bay with a ton of U-Pick and pre-picked orchards. It’s located about an hour’s drive east of San Francisco. The farms there produce delicious peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, nectarines, pears, apples, figs, walnut, corn and much more! We have been there for summer fruit picking before, but never for Spring blossoms!
Please note, these orchards are private properties, so if you’re planning on visiting, please be respectful and make sure to follow the instructions on any signs you see there. I also encourage you to call ahead to check on their current visitor policy. The Harvest Time in Brentwood website has information on local U-Pick farms and orchards along with contact information.
A Sea of Pink and White Blossoms
It was a beautiful sunny day when we visited the area in mid-March and a sea of bright pink peach blossoms spread out as far as our eyes could see. I was in pink flower heaven! There were also some white plum blossoms next to the peaches that added a pretty cloud-like effect. What a beautiful piece of heaven!
I was super happy to have discovered these Springtime peach blossoms near where I live. I encourage you to see if there are any U-Pick orchards close to where you live that don’t mind people visiting. Not only are orchards beautiful places to visit, you can come home with some fresh-picked fruit later in the season. What can be better than fresh-picked fruit from local farms?
By the way, if you love flowers as much as I do, you might be interested in my post on the Most Beautiful Flower Books (it’s one of my most popular posts!).
Outfit Details
Dress by Reformation – similar current style in white at Nordstrom and at Reformation. See my current picks here! | Similar straw hat at Nordstrom | J. Crew straw bag, very cute version with tassle at Nordstrom
Photography Tips for Taking Pictures Mid-Day
An orchard full of beautiful pink blossoms, or any area with beautiful flowers (such as the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch), is a perfect location for taking pictures, in my opinion! But if it’s a bright sunny day with few or no clouds, then there will be some challenges. Here are some general photography tips for taking pictures mid-day when the sun is strong.
In general, outdoor portrait photography is best when there is some cloud cover since the bright sun can cause harsh shadows on the face. I like to take pictures in the early morning or just before the golden hour in the evenings to avoid these harsh shadows, but when those times don’t work, then you need to try to work around those challenges.
If you want to take closer up pictures including your face, one option is to bring a collapsible diffuser with you to soften and diffuse the light. These are lightweight and somewhat portable, but please note that they will only work if you also have a tripod or a third person to help hold the diffuser above you while taking the picture!
If you don’t have a diffuser with you, then I suggest that you focus on pictures where you are further away with your face turned at least slightly away from the camera in order to avoid the sun’s glare, which is difficult to edit. Adding a straw hat such as this cute one at Nordstrom will also help to hide the light or shadows on your face. You can still capture the beauty of the place and compose a nice picture even if you are not directly facing the camera.
Bonus tip – to emphasize the height of the trees, ask your photographer to take some pictures from a lower angle. Ken was kneeling on the ground and laying on his back with the camera aimed up towards me and the trees for the first photo above! (Thanks Ken!) We always bring a towel and these heavy duty knee pads on our photo shoots for this purpose.
The four photos above were captured with a Nikon D750 (new model D780 here) using a 105mm lens. The aperture ranged from 3.5 to 6.3. I have an entire post on the best lenses for flower photography you may be interested in!
California Spring Travel
If you’re looking for more California Spring travel ideas, check out my posts on the Most Beautiful Spots in Big Sur, the Purple Ice Plants of the Monterey Peninsula, the spectacular Flower Fields of Carlsbad Ranch, and the Poppy Fields of Mt Diablo State Park!
All of my California travel posts are here!
Best-Selling Books for Flower Lovers!
Hi, I’m Pansy!
Hello, thanks for stopping by! I’m Pansy, California-based travel + lifestyle blogger, photographer and lover of ALL the pretty flowers! If you browse through my blog, you may notice that most of my travels, DIY and photography center around flowers and nature! 🌸🌼🌿
In addition to this blog, I also create cute & fun journals & activity books. More info on my website at Fleurette Press!
I hope you found this post useful, and I hope you have a wonderful day!
Pansy ❤️
Very Nice helpful post. How can I take permission from a farmer to do photoshoot in their farm. Do you have any ideas?
Hi Sejal, it wouldn’t hurt to call or email them and ask! The ranches in the area have phone numbers listed on Google Maps, and some have websites also. Good luck! 🙂