Another wildflower update – I’m just so excited about the rain! I’m in Monterey on the California coast and it’s raining now, destroying any chances for me to see the eclipse. It rained and blew so hard earlier on this week that the power was out for 24 hours. I had to laugh – I wanted to spend a little time on the Pacific Coast in winter so that I could experience the big storms and watch the wild winter waves. Be careful what you ask for…
What’s got me really excited, though, is that some of these storms have made it over or around the mountains and are reaching the desert.
Rainfall totals in Death Valley are still grim. But it IS a big park, and the only place they report totals from is Furnace Creek. The southern part of the park has been receiving rain. I camped at the southern end of the Greenwater Valley in mid-December and there were sprouts coming up, and green fuzz between Jubilee and Salsbury Passes.
Mojave is getting green patches, but not much going on there yet. They DID get over an inch of rain in early December, so there are possibilities for later in the spring.
Joshua Tree should be GREAT this year, There are already good flowers happening there, and it will get better and better.
Box Canyon Road near Mecca, my favorite way to get from Joshua Tree to Anza Borrego is full of blooms, now, too. But there’s one problem – the road is gone, washed away in flash floods. Don’t know if it will be repaired by spring or not.
Anza-Borrego is forecasting an awesome year, too. They also got over an inch in the early December storm, half an inch New Year’s Eve, and a shower a week since then. They are already reporting some flowers, probably triggered by an October storm. Expect the bigger bloom to start in about a month.
I want you to be excited, too, so here’s a few desert wildflower pix to get you going. If you’d like some of these images as wall art or printed on merchandise, check out my site at Fine Art America.
Happy flower hunting!
Lovely Dianne – keep it coming
Thanks, Paul!
Beautiful Diane. Yours skills are growing so much!
Thanks, Kevin!