Springtime Peach Blossoms in the Bay Area

Have you ever looked with envy at all the beautiful cherry blossom pictures all over Instagram during the Hanami season? Every March – April, my feed is filled with those beautiful pink Spring blossoms. And since I live for beautiful flowers, I wish so much that I could see them in person too! They seem to be all over Japan and Washington D.C., but only a few where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Where are the 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 Spring peach blossoms right here in the Bay Area! A truly spectacular sight that’s among the most beautiful I’ve ever seen!

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Learn more in my disclosures page. Thank you, I really appreciate your support! 🌸💛💛

Peach Blossoms Bloom Time

Peach blossoms typically bloom starting the beginning of March, although bloom times will vary each year. We visited in mid-March and it was 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

Brentwood is a mixed residential and farming community in the East Bay with a ton of U-Pick and pre-picked orchards. The farms there produce delicious peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, nectarines, pears, apples, figs, walnut, corn and much more!

Please note, these orchards are private property, 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 and the bright pink blossoms of the peach trees 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, and 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!). I also design flower-themed notebooks and journals you might like!

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!

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 (or you’re just lazy like I am sometimes), then you need 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 even with Adobe Lightroom. Adding a straw hat such as this cute one from Brixton 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 the picture 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.

California Spring Travel

If you’re looking for more California Spring travel ideas, check out my posts on beautiful places to visit:

• Beautiful Spring Peach Blossoms in the East Bay
• The Poppy Fields of Mt Diablo State Park
• The Most Beautiful Spots in Big Sur
• The Purple Ice Plants in the Monterey Peninsula
• The spectacular Flower Fields of Carlsbad Ranch
• Spring wildflowers at Coyote Hills Regional Park

All of my California travel posts are here!