Wildflowers, Natural History Photography Blog

Brittlebush at sunrise, dawn, springtime bloom, Palm Canyon, Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Image ID: 24301   Species: Brittlebush, Encelia farinosa Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA

I made a sunrise visit to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, my first visit this spring. By 9am I had seen enough to know there was no further point in staying, and the light had grown harsh. There is some good news and bad news — bad news first.

Bad: Since I have been monitoring reports from other photographers for the past month, especially Ron Niebrugge’s, I had a reasonable idea of what to expect. Nonetheless, I was surprised and deeply disappointed by the extent to which invasive Sarahan mustard has overrun some of the best and most accessible wildflower areas of past years. Everyone who has visited Anza-Borrego for wildflowers is probably familiar with the alluvial flood area that descends from Coyote Canyon, and is bordered by DiGorgio Road on the west, Henderson Canyon Road on the south, and mountains to the east. My fear is that that entire area will never again produce the gorgeous expanses of Dune Evening Primrose and Sand Verbena that is has in the past. Currently, it is totally overrun and choked by saharan mustard. In theory this year’s timing of rain and warm spells should have produced a fantastic bloom in that area right about now, peaking in the next 10 days or so. Well, that won’t be happening. I did not even bother to get my camera out as I made a few stops on Henderson Canyon Road and past the end of DiGiorgio Road; I had a hard time even finding patches of verbena to look at. With some walking way in from the road, one can find patches of sand verbena (Abronia villosa) but honestly they are just nothing like in past years. While there are desert lilies about, they are overshadowed by the taller, engulfing mustard. My favorite desert flower, the dune evening primrose (Oenothera deltoides), is just not happening this season; the few that are blooming are being smothered. To the east of Borrego Springs, on S22 out toward the Fonts Point and Arroyo Salado turnoffs, past years have often had large swaths of sand verbena. That’s not happening in those areas right now, and probably won’t this year. Mustard is starting to appear in those areas as well, unfortunately.

I hate to say it, but my sense is that this year’s flower bloom in Anza-Borrego will be (is?) sub-par. The same may hold true for the Coachella Valley. We saw virtually no color on the western flanks of the Coachella Valley, including almost no brittlebush, as we left Palm Desert and drove up into the mountains today.

Good: I think this may be a super year for cactus blooms. I went to a couple of my favorite canyons and found thousands of cacti, including large red barrel cactus (Ferocactus cylindraceus), looking healthy, in bud stage or just beginning to bloom. They look great. I plan to come back in a couple weeks to see how they have progressed. Brittlebush is beginning to bloom now, and looks very good in some areas, including Borrego Palm Canyon (near the visitor center), where it can be seen growing alongside the short-lived stream that is still flowing (video). While the brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) is sparse relative to past years, it provides the best opportunities for color. I am hopeful the brittlebush fills out and covers the western flanks of the Anza-Borrego basin in yellow as it has in the past. If it does, it will probably take at least another week or two to develop that way.

I will return in another week or so for the cactus, ocotillo, agave and brittlebush, but with little hope for the flowers.

Update 1: Micheal Gordon posted his observations (similar to mine). Many have commented on the Carol Leigh’s Calphoto wildflower sheet, also with some dour news about the mustard

Update 2: I was pleased to see water in Palm Canyon, so I shot and posted a little video of the stream flowing past brittlebush.

Update 3: Oh, yeah, here is a shameless plug: Borrego Springs House for Sale! A family member is selling a home in Borrego Springs. It is a beautiful, custom, single-level high-end home with interior pool and courtyard on a large quiet lot. Let me know if you are interested.

Below are some photos I got this morning between sunrise and 9am.

Brittlebush blooms in spring, Palm Canyon, Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Image ID: 24304   Species: Brittlebush, Encelia farinosa Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA

Red barrel cactus, Glorietta Canyon, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Image ID: 24302   Species: Red barrel cactus, Ferocactus cylindraceus Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA

Cholla cactus, sunrise, dawn, Palm Canyon, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Image ID: 24305   Species: Cholla cactus, Opuntia Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA

Red barrel flower bloom, cactus detail, spines and flower on top of the cactus, Glorietta Canyon, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Image ID: 24309   Species: Red barrel cactus, Ferocactus cylindraceus Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA

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My favorite desert flower to photograph is the dune evening primrose (Oenothera deltoides). It is so elegant and striking that even a blind monkey with a broken camera can get a good shot of this flower. I’ve seen them in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park during years of good spring bloom, this year being one of them. This from Sunday morning:

Dune primrose (white) and sand verbena (purple) bloom in spring in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, mixing in a rich display of desert color. Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA. Image: 20464   Species: Oenothera deltoides, Abronia villosa Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth!

Found throughout the Mojave, Sonoran and Great Basin deserts of the southwest, dune evening primrose forms a soft white four-petal flower with yellow center, sometimes turning pink or light brown as they age. Dune evening primrose grows in clusters, often mixed with sand verbena. Coyote Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is chock full of dune evening primrose right now.

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I got out for a quick look at some wildflowers at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park on Sunday morning. I got out there at 6am just as the sun was rising, and by 8am the light had grown so harsh I put my camera away and just hiked around. The bloom is definitely on and will be going for a few weeks I think. My guess is that it will be good but not great, at least not surpassing the bloom of a few (was it three?) springs ago, but at least it is better than the poor showings we had the last two years. One thing I noticed was a huge abundance of desert lilies. In one area I hiked, I had a hard time finding a place to step without smashing small desert lilies, they were everywhere. The cluster shown here, composed of white dune evening primrose and purple sand verbena, is literally inches from Henderson Canyon Road.

Dune primrose (white) and sand verbena (purple) bloom in spring in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, mixing in a rich display of desert color. Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA. Image: 20466   Species: Oenothera deltoides, Abronia villosa Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth!

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Anza Borrego Desert State Park is currently experiencing an epic, once-in-a-lifetime bloom of desert wildflowers, bushes and cacti. The sand verbena and desert primrose flowers that had covered the valley floor so spectacularly in places in February seem to be receding or largely gone, replaced with poppies and lupine. However, the principal attraction now is a profusion of brittlebush filling the canyons and coloring the hillsides on the east side of the valley with yellow. The slopes along the Montezuma Grade leading down to Borrego Springs from the west are bright with brittlebush, so that they appear entirely yellow and green from afar. The density of brittlebush continues down toward the valley and into the canyons, washes and alluvial fans. Barrel and cholla cactus and ocotillo are just now beginning to bloom, so desert color in Anza Borrego should continue to improve for at least a few more weeks. There are many small assorted flowers still, along with caterpillers (munching the flowers) and butterflies. The following is a blended exposure shot at sunrise, composed of three images blended to account for the extreme range of light that neither film nor digital sensor can adequately capture in a single exposure:

Brittlebush, ocotillo and various cacti and wildflowers color the sides of Glorietta Canyon. Heavy winter rains led to a historic springtime bloom in 2005, carpeting the entire desert in vegetation and color for months. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA. Image: 10895   Species: Encelia farinosa, Fouquieria splendens Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth!

See all the photos from this shoot.

Keywords: Anza Borrego Desert State Park, photo, photographs, wildflower.

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The spring wildflower bloom is happening right now at Anza Borrego Desert State Park, as well as many other places in California. The bloom appears to be early and thick this year due to the heavy rains we had over the past few months. Here are some examples, shot Sunday February 6, 2005. For the best current reports visit Carol Leigh’s California wildflower hotsheet.

Dune primrose blooms in spring following winter rains. Dune primrose is a common ephemeral wildflower on the Colorado Desert, growing on dunes. Its blooms open in the evening and last through midmorning. Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA. Image: 10458   Species: Oenothera deltoides Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth!

Brittlebush (yellow) and wild heliotrope (blue) bloom in spring, Palm Canyon. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA. Image: 10457   Species: Encelia farinosa Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth!

Arizona lupine is a common early spring ephemeral wildflower of the Colorado Desert. The purple-pink flowers show a yellow spot on the upper petal, which changes in color to red once the flower has been pollinated to discourage insects from visiting it after pollination. This photo shows both red and yellow petals. Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA. Image: 10526   Species: Lupinus arizonicus

Dune primrose (white) and sand verbena (purple) bloom in spring in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, mixing in a rich display of desert color. Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza Borrego, California, USA. Image: 10477   Species: Oenothera deltoides, Abronia villosa

Keywords: desert wildflower photos, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, wildflowers, spring, bl

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