Natural History Wanderings

Death Valley National Park Wildflower Fridays Wildflower Update

 Two nice gentle soaker rains last week have given us .42 inches of rain for January and watered the little sprouts that have come up, keeping them green and healthy. Relatively cool weather, not too much wind, and another nice soaker sometime in February will give us a decent wildflower season in most parts of the park.Keep your fingers crossed!

The green covering the hills and alluvial fans is mostly cryptantha seedlings, a tiny white wildflower related to the forget-me-not. Brown-eyed Evening Primrose are just starting to bloom on the northern part of the Badwater Road. I’m going to go out on a limb and make a prediction. This area should really start popping in about 2 weeks. The lower part of the Badwater Road (Jubilee Pass and Salsberry Pass) will probably not really get going until early March, as the seedlings are still pretty small there.(dm)