What should be the official San Diego flower? Vote in the final oven of March Madness style – San Diego Union -Tribune

The March Madness style competition to name the official San Diego flower is due in the Final Four, and online vote is now underway.

Local residents are encouraged to choose between bush sunflowers and California wild rose in the semi-finals and to choose between Californian buckwheat and blue eyes in the other.

The vote on semi-final matches, which started on Saturday and takes place until April 7, will be followed by a final match between the semi-final winners. Online vote during the final match will take place from April 9 to 14.

The objective of the competition is to find a replacement for embarking – a non -native flower which has served as an official city flower of San Diego since 1964.

Local environmental groups say that the choice of an indigenous flower like one in the city will encourage residents to cultivate native flowers, which help support bees, birds and local butterflies.

Indigenous plants underpin the survival of all local species, Andrew Meyer of the San Diego Bird Alliance said last week. This is particularly important in the county of San Diego, the most biodiversity in the country.

The Bird Alliance, previously known as the Audubon company, has narrowed the field of more than 2,000 species of Indigenous County flowers to 40 and has had its eight local experts retroduced.

The four flowers that lost in the first voting round are the bladderpod, the black sage, the blue elderberry and the wise of Cleveland. The number of votes expressed in the first round was 2,269, and they represented 128 different postal codes.

The flower that survives this challenge should be presented to the municipal council at the end of April to be potentially selected as a new official flower of San Diego.

Voters are encouraged to use six criteria to pick flowers: their environmental advantages, their cultural meaning, the ease of growing up, whether they are found in several places, whether threatened and their beauty.

Visit Sandiegobirdalliance.org to vote.

The Bird Alliance says that native flowers help wildlife by providing food, nesting materials, shelter and protection against predators. The persuasion of more people to plant them will stimulate the regional identity of San Diego, minimize the use of water, reduce landscaping costs and promote ecotourism, according to the Alliance.

Originally published: March 29, 2025 at 10:00 a.m.