It’s worth mentioning that this song — like many songs — is open to interpretation. It may have deeper meaning, or it may not.
The author is talking about how the California of his youth was dying, and so too are these beautiful wildflowers, destroyed by mercenaries hired by some corporation to clear out nature-encroaching weeds in order to build more condominiums where people can live and work until they die.
But he also creates symbolic pictures in other parts of the song: A free drink at the bar with no barker there who asks you where you’re going…