Bloom Reports from the Anza-Borrego Desert: 2024-2025
Table of Contents
Latest Summary of Bloom Status
Bloom Reports from Individual Hikes This Season
Links to Other Webpages on Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Blooms
Background Information for Bloom Reports from the Anza-Borrego Desert
Older Bloom Reports from 2009 to present
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| Fig. 1. Left: Proboscidea althaeifolia, Desert Unicorn-Plant, observed by @planetaverde303 in September 2024 (date and location obscured at iNat). Right: Pectis papposa, chinchweed, observed by Birgit Knorr on 4 October 2024.
Click on the pix to go to the iNat obs of each, showing exactly where those photos were taken (except for obscured species). | |
Latest Summary of Bloom Status
Summary as of 5 October 2024
After three years in a row with good monsoonal rain, this monsoonal season has mostly been a bust in western Arizona and the desert section of California. Tom and Don drove SR74 from its junction with SR371 at Paradise Corner, and I-10 to Kingman, AZ on 15 September 2024, and AZ71 and US60 from Congress, AZ to Quartzsite, AZ on 19 September 2024, and saw only a few monsoonal plants on the entire trip, all of them on US60.
The Borrego Springs area is slightly better off, having received a few scattered thunderstorms. Still, there have only been eight iNat obs of Pectis papposa since 1 September 2024, mostly from the Vallecito Valley. Of the 11 observations of ocotillo since then, only three of them show leaves. There have been two observations of desert unicorn plant in bloom, so that is a treat awaiting anyone willing to brave 100 deg temperatures.
Now that Fred Melgert and Carla Hoegen are back exploring our desert, we'll soon learn much better the current state of the desert plants.
You can explore the state of the bloom yourself from the comfort of home with the iNat 186 observations of 95 species posted at iNat since 1 September 2024 (numbers are as of 5 October 2024; your numbers will be greater as more obs are added from later dates). Click on "Filters" in the upper right to change the date range if you want to see only very recent observations.
Click on the "Map" tab at the link and you can zoom into the map to see where the reports are. Once you zoom into a given area, click on the "Redo search in map", or use the rectangular or circular area tool to circumscribe your area, to find out how many flower observations there are in your desired area. Each observation gives the date and time of observation, and the latitude and longitude for each observation, which is plotted on a map so you can see where it was observed (rare species have obscured coordinates, which have a different symbol on the map and wildly-inaccurate coordinates from the obscuration).
See also previous versions of this page.
Bloom Reports from Individual Hikes This Season
The latest bloom reports are given first (i.e., the reports are in inverse order of time). As detailed immediately above, you can see a map of where the hikes were from any linked iNat post of the species in bloom.
For many more bloom reports, see Anza-Borrego Wildflowers Bloom Report by Fred Melgert and Carla Hoegen.
Bloom Reports not yet added to this page
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For many more bloom reports, see Anza-Borrego Wildflowers Bloom Report by Fred Melgert and Carla Hoegen.
Links to Other Webpages on Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Blooms
Anza-Borrego Wildflowers Bloom Report by Fred Melgert and Carla Hoegen, often with daily wildflower updates.
All iNaturalist observations in the Borrego Desert since 1 September 2024, 186 observations of 95 species (numbers are as of 5 October 2024 (click on "Filters" to change the dates; )
Wildflower Updates from the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park official site, with wildflower information on it. When they start producing current wildflower reports, click on the link near the top with the word Update, which might be updated weekly.
DesertUSA Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Wildflower Reports
Anza-Borrego Foundation and Institute Wildflowers and their Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Wildflower Hotline: (760)767-4684. "Information on this recording is updated regularly."
Theodore Payne Wildflower Hotline (Reports begin the first Friday in March)