Natural History Wanderings

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Wildflower Update February 15, 2015

Unseasonably warm temperatures are bringing annual wildflowers into bloom fairly quickly. It should be possible to find something blooming somewhere over the next two weeks, though a dramatic landscape blanketed with colorful “drive-by” blossoms is unlikely without another significant rainfall.

Annual flowers including purple phacelia and yellow desert dandelion are blooming at the Visitor Center and in Borrego Palm Canyon; shrubs such as brittlebush, chuparosa, and desert lavender are making a beautiful showing as well, especially in western canyons.

Brown-eyed evening primrose and sand verbena can be found in the fields along DiGiorgio Road and alongside many of the roads throughout the Borrego Valley.

A drive to the end of the pavement at the north end of DiGiorgio Road yields a variety of annuals, including spectacle-pod, brown-eyed evening primrose, sand verbena, desert dandelion, sunflowers, and even a few desert lilies coming into bloom. Lupine plants are widespread, but are likely to remain fairly small as they bloom, due to recent high temperatures.

Sunflower plants as well as dune primrose plants are present in decent numbers in the fields north of Henderson Canyon Road (aka “the flower fields”), and are loaded with buds. They are expected to bloom over the next week or so, but are unlikely to grow much larger without more rain.

Desert lilies are blooming among a variety of annual plants along Henderson Canyon Road, just east of its intersection with Highway S-2.

Daytime temperatures are very warm, but mornings are delightful for hiking, exploring, and wildflower-seeking!