Natural History Wanderings

Death Valley National Park has a new Wildflower Update for 4/3/15

When you think about the challenges our wildflowers face, it is amazing we have any wildflowers left at all!

First, of course, there’s water. We have had 1 inch of rain this winter season. That’s not a whole heck of a lot of precipitation. What worked well was that the timing of the rain we did receive was excellent, with a little every month from November through February, keeping the little seedlings alive. The next challenge is heat. It was 89° on February 7. The heat came early and hit hard this year. From March 11 on, every single day had temperatures in the 90s, and temperatures were in the triple digits every day for the last week of March. The mild winter also brought us a bumper crop of insects, decimating some flower species. April has cooled down, but brought another big challenge. Wind!

Yet even with all these challenges, we still have some wonderful showings of wildflowers for you here in Death Valley. My pick of the week is Dante’s View Road. Lots of variety is available along that drive, from the turtleback and eriogonum you can see along the side of the road just after you turn off Highway 190, to the milkvetch found around the final curve in the road. Daylight Pass, Highway 190 just above Emigrant Campground, and Emigrant Pass Road are other good places to look for blooms along the paved roads. If you have high clearance or four wheel drive, other great wildflower drives are Greenwater Road, Gold Valley Road, Butte Valley and Titus Canyon. Joshua Trees are blooming in Lee Flat. The cactus flowers up the Hole-In the Wall Road are fantastic, too.

Because of the many challenges the flowers have faced this year, though, the mid elevation flowers ARE showing signs of heat stress. See them now, they probably won’t last long. It’s time to head for the high country. The Lupine are blooming in the canyons of the southern Panamints. So are the Panamint Daisies. If you go to see the daisies, please be aware that the Lower Wildrose Road IS closed to through traffic. Paintbrush, Desert Globemallow, and Mojave Asters can be seen along all the higher elevation roads. Indigo Bushes are blooming now. Beavertail Cactus are putting out brilliant displays of fuchsia flowers. Prickly Poppies can be found along the way to Father Crowley Lookout. Take a hike up a mountain and you may be surprised at the variety of beautiful blooms to be found here. Happy flower hunting!

See photos at  Death Valley National Park.