Bloom Reports from the Anza-Borrego Desert: 2025-2026
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: Abronia villosa, desert sand verbena, observed by @smfang on 3 November 2025 in Borrego Springs. There have been 28 iNat posts of this species from the Borrego Desert since 26 October 2025.
Right: Phacelia distans, common phacelia, observed by Don Rideout on 12 November 2025 in Pinyon Mountain Valley. There are been 22 iNat posts of this species from the Borrego Desert since 26 October 2025. Click on the pix to go to the original iNat observations. | |
Latest Summary of Bloom Status
Summary as of 16 November 2025
The 2025 to 2026 wildflower season is off to a good start, with September 2025 rainfall that germinated some spring annuals in some locations, and good widespread November rainfall that will probably germinate most of our spring annuals. This guarantees at least a decent year of small annual plants in bloom. Whether it will be a good year or better, with bigger, more showy annuals, depends on future rain and heat.
As of 16 November 2025, there have been 650 observations of 114 species tagged as being in bloom in the last three weeks since 26 October 2025. If you click that link after 16 November, the numbers may be larger. The species with the most observations tagged as being in bloom are Pectis papposa, Perityle emory, Encelia farinosa, Bahiopsis parishii, and Abronia villosa (chinchweed, Emory's rockdaisy, brittlebush, Parish's goldeneye, and desert sand verbena).
Including iNat posts not annotated for bloom status, there have been 1,955 observations of 247 species posted at iNat in the last three weeks!
The best locations as of 16 November 2025 are:
- the desert floor around Borrego Springs, Borrego Palm Canyon, and the Coyote Creek area, with 264 observations of 54 species marked as being in bloom there in the last three weeks since 26 October 2025. This area is easily accessed from Borrego Springs.
- the Pinyon Mountain Valley area, with 217 observations of 48 species marked as being in bloom there in the last three weeks since 26 October 2025. This area is accessed by driving 3.6 miles of a good dirt road, Pinyon Mountain Road, which begins just south of Shelter Valley. We recommend parking at that point and walking the rest of the road from there, since the road beyond that point requires a serious 4WD with high clearance.
The summer / fall blooming monsoonal annuals are mostly in seed now. The carpets of yellow from chinchweed, Pectis papposa, have all faded away, although individual plants can still be found in good bloom in scattered locations. There have been 39 iNat observations of Pectis in the last week, in bloom and not, in 6 widespread locations, from 9 to 16 November 2025. If you click on that link after 16 November, the number will probably be higher.
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.
16 November 2025: South Anza-Borrego by @planetaverde303.
12 November 2025: Pinyon Mountain Road Area by Tom Chester, Don Rideout, Jim Roberts, and Abbyann Sisk. 39 species in bloom!
3 November 2025: Anza Borrego, by @planetaverde303.
23 October 2025: Culp Valley / Borrego Springs by Tom Chester, Ted Caragozian, Walt Fidler, Don Rideout, and Jim Roberts.
18 October 2025: car trip from just north of Canebrake to Blair Valley by @planetaverde303.
17 October 2025: Culp Valley Campground / Pena Spring Area by Tom Chester, Jeff Field, Jim Roberts, and Tom White.
5 October 2025: Monsoonal Car Trip along S2 from Scissors Crossing to Bisnaga Alta Wash by Tom Chester, Craig Denson, Don Rideout, Mark and Rebecca Stevens, and Cathy Wiley
28 September 2025: car trip from Yuha Desert in Imperial County to lower Blair Valley by @planetaverde303.
10 September 2025: car trip from Borrego Springs to Salton City, and back via SR78 by Tom Chester and Don Rideout.
1 September 2025: car trip from the San Felipe Valley to Indian Gorge / Torote Canyon by Tom Chester, Don Rideout, and Jim Roberts.
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 15 August 2025, 3,574 observations of 267 species (numbers are as of 20 October 2025; 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)