Joshua Tree National Park (U.S. National Park Service) reports
Remember
- Do not pick wildflowers. Leave them for others to enjoy and to reproduce so they can come back next year.
- Watch your footing when you view and photograph wildflowers. Many visitors have trampled the wildflowers. Again, this ruins the flower viewing experience for others, and the flower won’t be able to reproduce for future year’s bloom.
- Wait until you reach a pull out to park your car, and park in designated areas only. Parking illegally poses a danger to everyone and destroys wildflowers that may be on the roadside.
The blooms are still colorful and worth seeing in the southern part of the park near Cottonwood and really coming into their own in the western portion of the park. The colorful bloom continues near the north entrance. Wildflowers are starting to become more abundant at the higher elevation areas, such as Keys View Rd.
Please take a look at past blog posts, as the information in the past reports is still relevant and will help with species identification. And be sure to visit and contribute to our iNaturalist Wildflower Watch Project.
Southern Half of the Park
Cottonwood Springs Road and Bajada Trail
The blooms along Cottonwood Springs Road are peaking or a little past peak at lower elevations. Purple mat, Nama demissa, is spreading along the sand with its vibrant purple flowers. You can only find purple mat blooming between April and May and at elevations between 2,000 and 5,500 feet. The sand blazing star is throwing out its ghostly white flowers with its friend the desert star. The strikingly otherworldly ocotillo blooms are peaking as well. Ocotillos actually have the potential to flower all year round, but they only bloom after it rains. The beloved golden poppies have mostly gone along with Encelia farinosa.Western Half of the Park
Geology Tour Road
If you have four-wheel drive, head down Geology Tour Road to check out the lavender Mojave desert aster. The Mojave aster has been used in the past as perfume because of its fragrant properties. You can also see fields of white and yellow thanks to the Acton’s encelia, Parish Viguera, desert dandelion, and pincushion. Parish’s onion is also starting to come and can be seen growing among the rocks.
The spherical Parish’s onion, Allium parishii, and violet Mojave desert aster are hanging around Geo Tour Road. You can find Parish’s onion growing in Arizona’s Sonoran desert, too.




