Bloom Reports from the Anza-Borrego Desert: 2022-2023
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. A comparison of the current 2022-2023 bloom year with two previous bloom years for the number of species seen in bloom on each trip (left) and the number of plants recorded in bloom on each trip (right), where each species has a maximum count of 99 plants. For example, if 20 species were in bloom, and each of them had at least 99 plants in bloom, the total number of plants recorded in bloom would be 20*99 = 1980. The current bloom was unusual in having good blooms in December through February, but is now not much different from a typical March bloom.
This year continues to be very unusual, in that there are still carpets of sand verbena in the sandy areas of the desert floor, producing good displays, but the diversity of species is among the lowest I've ever recorded for this time of year. Click on the plots to see every year for which I recorded data. I.e., if you love to see carpets of sand verbena, and many plants of hairy desert sunflower, this is a very good year. But if you want to see lots of Nemacladus species, you're out of luck, at least so far. The bloom in 2013-2014 was almost entirely a monsoonal bloom, with very little normal winter rain. The bloom below 3000 feet in the Borrego Desert was so bad that I stopped botanizing there after early February 2014. The bloom in 2009-2010 was a typical good year for the number of species in bloom, but a very good year for the number of plants in bloom, due to five inches of rain in January that germinated tremendous numbers of plants.
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Latest Summary of Bloom Status
Summary as of 11 March 2023
All good bloom years are different. This good year is the most different winter bloom season we have had since at least 2005.
The bloom so far this year is extremely non-uniform, and you'll see dramatically-different number of blooms depending on where you go:
- In many sandy areas on the desert floor, from the Borrego Springs area to the Vallecito Creek / Carrizo Creek area, there are spectacular blooms from sand verbena; see Fig. 2. Those sandy areas have been in good bloom since October, and only show some signs of diminishing in March. Some of the sand verbena plants were damaged by the extreme wind event of 21 February 2023, with gusts to 67 mph recorded by NWS, and anecdotal reports of 100 mph gusts. But the vast majority of the plants are still blooming as if nothing extreme happened.
These plants might stay in good bloom until the weather turns hot for a lengthy interval in March or April. These areas are not very diverse, though, with only a small number of other species in bloom. dune evening primrose, Oenothera deltoides is not very common this year, but does make good displays in a few areas.
There was also a very good bloom of hairy desert sunflower, Geraea canescens, along Henderson Canyon Road just west of the Pegleg Monument at S22. Unfortunately, many of those plants were severely affected by frost in late December / early January, and are no longer blooming. However, there are still a number of happy blooming Geraea plants there; that field is just not as beautiful as it was in November and December. Fortunately, this species is in good bloom in many other places throughout the desert floor, and very few, if any, of those have been hit by frost.
The good bloom from these species in the sandy areas was because their seeds responded well to the September rain from the remnants of Tropical Storm Kay. The seeds of other species, and the plants of some perennial species, didn't respond as well, preferring cooler winter rainfall, which has not been received in above-normal amounts until early January on the desert floor. In particular, only a small number of plants of desert lily have emerged this year, and only small numbers of desert lily plants have been observed in bloom in most areas. Only two desert lily plants came up in Don Rideout's yard in Borrego Springs, out of the 163 plants that live there. The one exception is a large field of desert lilies along Rockhouse Canyon Road, in a sandy area that must have received a large amount of summer / September rain, discovered by Paulette Donnellon on 20 January 2023. It was / is a great year there for desert lilies, with hundreds of plants in bloom, beginning in mid-January, with some still in bloom in early March!
- The bloom is quite variable in the non-sandy areas of the desert floor, and the low-elevation areas in the canyons to the west of the desert floor. Some areas have just 11 species in bloom now, and some areas have 50 to 70 species in bloom.
Amidst this variability, there is one species found nearly everywhere, rock daisy, Perityle emoryi. There are huge numbers of it in bloom, since it responded extremely well to the September rain. Rock daisy is the most abundant annual in the lower elevations of ABDSP now. It is found in a large number of locations, in great abundance in many of those locations, and has been in full bloom since mid-December. See two pix from Canyon 41 from 4 December 2022: blooming plants on a south-facing hillside, and not yet blooming plants on a north-facing hillside.
There are many locations with good blooms throughout the lower elevations of ABDSP. We have seen 50 or more species in bloom on every one of the seven hikes we've done in very different areas in February and March.
The southern part of the park, beginning in the Agua Caliente area and extending down to Sweeney Pass, is ablaze with color in places, along S2 and in the washes and canyons. The sand verbena is so spectacular that it can be seen miles away from the road as a distant purple haze. However, Fred and Carla report the bloom has been declining in the south part of the park for the last month.
From 7 February to 8 March 2023, Fred and Carla have reported the bloom status on 24 hikes in very diverse areas, finding the bloom was very good on six trips; above average on one; good on seven; average on one; moderate on three; and low on six.
In the last month, from 10 February to 10 March 2023, there are 1,549 observations of 154 species tagged as being in bloom! But there have been so many observations posted that no one can keep up with tagging them as being in bloom. Overall, there are a staggering 9,956 observations of 392 species posted at iNat in the last month! (The numbers will be larger if you click on this link after 11 March).
The most commonly-posted species include sand verbena, Abronia villosa; dune evening primrose, Oenothera deltoides; brown-eyed evening primrose, Chylismia claviformis; hairy desert sunflower, Geraea canescens; rock daisy, Perityle emoryi, and Arizona lupine, Lupinus arizonicus.
See detailed reports from each hike below for locations and lists of the species in bloom, which also report the number of plants observed in bloom.
- Not much had been happening at higher elevations, above 2000 feet or so, due to the below-average temperatures we've consistently experienced since 1 November 2022. However, it looks like the bloom at 1500 to 2500 feet might be starting. The best bloomer now at those elevation is Prunus fremontii; there are 25 iNat posts of this species in bloom from a number of places since 1 March 2023, including plants in full bloom along S2 in San Felipe Valley at 2800 feet elevation. Fred and Carla found a good bloom starting in Pinyon Wash / Harper Flat on 11 March 2023.
Those higher-elevation areas have received excellent winter rainfall, and so there should be a very good bloom in those areas in March and April.
This situation is very different from what happens in a "Superbloom" year, where the entire desert receives abundant October through January rainfall, and bursts into bloom almost everywhere, with ~200 species in bloom easily seen in a day hike. Many species have either not germinated at all, such as most Nemacladus species, or germinated in very low numbers, such as chia and Gilia stellata.
But if your definition of a "Superbloom" is when we have vast fields of sand verbena in bloom, then you'll be quite happy at what is happening now.
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| Fig. 2. Three different spectacular fields of sand verbena, Abronia villosa.
Top left: from the sandy area along S22 between Fonts Point Wash and the Villager Peak Trailhead on 4 November 2022. Top right: from the junction of Di Giorgio Road and Henderson Canyon Road on 25 November 2022. Bottom: at the junction of Arroyo Hueso and the Vallecito Creek Wash Road on 10 November 2022. Even though these pix are from November 2022, these plants still look almost the same, and possibly even better, in February and March 2023. Click on the pix for a larger version. All pix taken by Tom Chester. | |
You can explore the bloom yourself from the comfort of home with the iNat 9,956 observations of 392 species posted at iNat in the last month. Click on "Filters" in the upper right to change the date range if you want to see only very recent observations.
Note that some of the species in bloom with only a few observations may be represented by only a single individual, or a small number of individuals, in some places, but most of the species have a number of individuals in bloom. Also, how many and which species you see in bloom on your hike is largely determined by where you hike and how far you hike. Many species are restricted to a certain elevation range, or certain locations.
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, and detailed reports from each hike below for locations and lists of the species in bloom, which also report the number of plants observed in bloom.
Summary of rainfall this year, and general comments about the bloom from September through November:
There were widespread monsoonal storms in the mountains, and sometimes in the adjoining desert areas, in June, July, and August 2022. Examples: half of Sweeney Pass Road was taken out by wash runoff from a monsoonal storm on 22 to 23 June 2022. In week after week in July and August, thunderstorms formed in the Garner Valley area of the San Jacinto Mountains and drifted toward the Borrego Desert, dumping rain on the Santa Rosa Mountains and the nearby desert floor.
The capper was when the remnants of Tropical Storm Kay dropped as much as four inches of rain in places on the desert slopes and mountain crests of San Diego County in mid-September. That storm lasted much longer than a typical monsoonal thunderstorm, cooling the soil from its rains, and was able to germinate some non-monsoonal species, such as sand verbena. Ranchita got four inches from that storm, following four inches from a previous monsoonal storm earlier, and the desert area near Borrego Springs received 1.5 inches.
There was additional rainfall in October both from monsoonal storms and from a cutoff low.
As a result, almost the entire Desert Transition area, the area west and north of the desert floor, had at least some fall blooms, and some areas looked gorgeous. Even areas of the desert floor, in Borrego Springs, and from Vallecito County Park to Carrizo Creek, have abundant blooms.
Many, but not all, of the areas with good blooms were documented at iNat, mostly by Fred Melgert and Carla Hoegen.
Some general comments:
- There were beautiful hillsides of yellow from Bahiopsis parishii, beginning in late September 2022, peaking in mid-October 2022, and declining in late October 2022. Most of those hillsides finished blooming in November.
- There were hillsides of yellow in some places from late-blooming chinchweed, Pectis papposa, as seen along S22 west of Fonts Point Wash on 4 November 2022, with carpets of yellow more common in flat areas, but most of the Pectis bloom is fading. Pectis, began blooming in early September 2022, and were past peak bloom in many places in early November 2022. The chinchweed essentially ended in December.
- Most of the annuals earlier in the fall were monsoonal species that germinate in response to the warm rains of summer, mostly Pectis papposa, Amaranthus fimbriatus, Boerhavia and Euphorbia species, Datura discolor, and Physalis crassifolia. Most of these species grow quickly, are in peak bloom a month after rainfall, and then die very quickly. Most of those species usually are almost completely gone at this time of year, but the spread-out good rains have kept many of them going even now. However, amazingly, some areas still had monsoonal plants in bloom in a number of areas in early December. However, all of these species essentially finished blooming in late December.
A few areas germinated our normal spring-blooming annuals, such as ghost flower and Bigelow's monkey flower (see Fig. 1), and they started blooming in late November. However, in most places those spring-blooming annuals are absent, and we need cool-season rains in December and January to germinate them.
- Two huge exceptions to the above are sand verbena, Abronia villosa (see a field in the sandy area along S22 between Fonts Point Wash and the Villager Peak Trailhead), and hairy desert-sunflower, Geraea canescens. The extended good rains somehow stimulated many plants of those species to germinate in many places, and those plants should continue blooming through spring, since the sandy habitat in which these species grow is a reservoir of water that can be tapped by further growth of their roots. The big patch of desert sunflowers along Henderson Canyon Road began blooming in late November.
- Many of the perennials and shrubs in bloom earlier in the fall are also species that respond primarily to warm rains, such as devils claw, Proboscidea althaeifolia, and Senna armata. Those species had great blooms in September and early October, but stopped blooming in December.
However, scattered plants of many species responded to the good rain with at least a few blooms.
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.
7 March 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 50 species in bloom in an 8 mile loop hike at Borrego Mountain, from San Felipe Wash, up Blow Sand Canyon, across the Goat Trail, and down the Buttes Pass Road. These were mostly very small plants, with few blooms. This is typical of years in which we get just enough rainfall to germinate annuals, and little follow-up rainfall to make them grow big.. We estimated that this area is at peak bloom now.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
3 March 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 45 species in bloom in a hike in Fossil Canyon, in the Coyote Mountains of extreme southwest Imperial County.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom, and a link to their iNat obs from this trip.
27 February 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 59 species in bloom in a hike along Coyote Creek Wash from its "zeroth" crossing on Coyote Creek Road near the end of Di Giorgio Road, to the Horse Camp Road. The highlight was seeing over 200 plants of Aphyllon cooperi, mostly in bloom!
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom, and a link to their iNat obs from this trip.
17 February 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 65 species in bloom in a hike of the Alcoholic Pass Trail from the Coyote Canyon Trailhead to Rockhouse Canyon Road and back.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom, and a link to their iNat obs from this trip.
12 February 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 68 species in bloom in a hike in Henderson Canyon.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom, and a link to their iNat obs from this trip.
8 February 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 58 species in bloom in a hike in eastern Clark Valley.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom, and a link to their iNat obs from this trip.
4 February 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 68 species in bloom in a hike the Butler Canyon / Rockhouse Canyon area.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom, and a link to their iNat obs from this trip.
28 January 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 45 species in bloom in Palo Verde Wash and Canyon.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom, and a link to their iNat obs from this trip.
22 January 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 29 species in bloom in a hike of the Glorietta / Juanito Canyon Loop, and upper Juanito Canyon. The best news is that they observed good annual germination in a number of places there.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom, and a link to their iNat obs from this trip.
18 January 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 28 species in bloom hiking the 17 Palms - Una Palma - 5 Palms Loop, including some lovely plants of Xylorhiza and patches of Geraea in bloom.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
12 January 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 35 species in bloom along a car drive to Split Mountain, and a four mile hike in the Split Mountain area. Only Perityle was abundant in bloom; the other species had few plants in bloom.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
7 January 2023. Tom Chester and Don Rideout observed 51 species in bloom, on a six mile hike in Henderson Canyon, beginning from the gated access road at the junction of Borrego Springs Road and Henderson Canyon Road. They posted 123 observations of 88 species at iNat.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
2 January 2023. Ted Caragozian, Tom Chester, Walt Fidler, Sharon Gott, and Don Rideout observed just 11 species in bloom on a four mile hike on the west side of Clark Dry Lake. Even though the bloom count was low, we unexpectedly found a species in bloom that none of us had ever seen before, Nama hispida. Tom and Don posted 50 observations of 31 species, including a few obs from a stop along the Geraea field along Henderson Canyon Road.
See their Detailed Trip Report.
27 December 2022. Tom Chester, Don Rideout, Jim Roberts, and Karyn Sauber observed 54 species in bloom, in the Canyon immediately north of Canebrake. They posted 197 observations of 72 species at iNat.
See their list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
23 December 2022. Nancy Accola, Jan Auburn, Tom Chester, Walt Fidler, Baltasar Pimentel, Don Rideout, and Jim Roberts observed 69 species in bloom on a 3.5 mile loop hike in the area southwest of June Wash, as well as a bit of the Vallecito Creek Area near June Wash. Tom, Don and Jim posted 120 observations of 67 species at iNat.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
18 December 2022. Tom Chester, Walt Fidler, Jane Gomery, Don Rideout, and Jim Roberts had what they described as a "magical trip" doing a 4.5 mile loop hike in the vicinity of Ironwood Wash. They saw 62 species in bloom. Tom, Don and Jim posted 188 observations of 77 species at iNat.
See their Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
14 December 2022. Tom Chester, Jan Auburn, Don Rideout, and Jim Roberts saw a number of very happy Elephant Trees, fully leafed out but mostly without fruit, on a five mile hike in the Elephant Tree Natural Area to the mouth of Alma Canyon. They observed 25 species in bloom. Jim and Don posted 49 obs of 35 species at iNat.
See Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
9 December 2022. Tom Chester, Don Rideout, and Jim Roberts found 36 species in bloom on a five mile hike from the Villager Peak Trail into Rattlesnake Canyon to document the monsoonal species there. We posted 45 obs of 26 species at iNat.
See Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom..
4 December 2022. Tom Chester, Ted Caragozian, Don Rideout, and Jim Roberts saw an amazing 65 species in bloom on a flower-filled hike in Canyon 41. Tom, Don and Jim posted 159 obs of 60 species.
See Detailed Trip Report.
30 November 2022. Tom Chester and Ted Caragozian found 49 species in bloom on a hike from the Vern Whitaker Horse Camp to the top of Boulder Alley. Tom posted 68 obs of 43 species, mostly monsoonal plants.
See Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
25 November 2022. Tom Chester and Don Rideout, accompanied by Cathy Wiley and her husband Chuck Bemis for the first hour, had a good time botanizing Palo Verde Wash north of S22 and its Canyon, finding 32 species in bloom. Don, Cathy, and Tom posted 138 observations of 64 species from our hike, as well as from two stops in the Borrego Springs area.
See Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
20 November 2022. Tom Chester, Ted Caragozian, and Don Rideout saw 48 native species in bloom along their hiking route from the Vern Whitaker Horse Camp, to the Canyon just south of Second Crossing. 12 of those species had over 99 plants in bloom. And we never got close to Coyote Creek, which probably had another ten or so species in bloom.
Don and Tom posted 94 observations of 63 species from this trip, including two obs from Don's Borrego house earlier in the morning.
See Detailed Trip Report, which includes a list of all the species observed in bloom, along with the estimated number of plants of each species in bloom.
15 November 2022. Tom Chester and Jim Roberts surveyed for Eucnide rupestris in Indian Gorge and Torote Canyon, but did not keep track of plants in bloom. There were huge numbers of Perityle in both canyons, mostly not yet in bloom. Jim posted 66 obs of 7 species at iNat, including a whopping 59 obs of Eucnide.
See Detailed Trip Report.
10 November 2022. Tom Chester, Walt Fidler, Jim Roberts, and Abbyann Sisk had a flower-filled hike in the vicinity of the Vallecito Creek Wash Road below its junction with the Arroyo Heuso. We came to enjoy the carpets of sand verbena reported by Fred Melgert and Carla Hoegen, and boy, did we see carpets of Abronia; wow! Jim and Tom posted 116 obs of 64 species, including some posts from Scissors Crossing and two stops near Agua Caliente County Park
See Detailed Trip Report.
4 November 2022. Tom Chester, Jeff Fields, and Jim Roberts found at least 31 species in bloom from a car survey along S22 from Ranchita to the Villager Peak Trailhead, and a three mile hike from the Villager Peak Trailhead to Rattlesnake Canyon and back along the base of Lute Ridge. The highlights were fields of Pectis still in full bloom in the Borrego Springs town area, and the stunning field of Abronia villosa in full bloom in the sandy area along S22 between Fonts Point Wash and the Villager Peak Trailhead. Encelia actoni was in full bloom from the Ranchita Park Entrance to Culp Valley.
We posted a total of 99 observations of 55 species from our trip.
See Detailed Trip Report.
25 October 2022. Tom Chester, Walt Fidler, and Don Rideout report at least 38 species in bloom from a delightful six mile hike south of the Vallecito State Station County Park. There were carpets of Pectis papposa in bloom, and a number of delightful plants of devils claw, Proboscidea althaeifolia, in flower, fruit, and in a few cases, the dried split-open fruit that IS the devils claw.
Don and Tom posted a whopping 108 observations of 87 species from this trip.
See Detailed Trip Report.
21 October 2022. Tom Chester, Walt Fidler, and Jim Roberts had a fabulous hike from Fages Monument just above Lake Cuyamaca at 4700 feet, down the California Riding and Hiking Trail, which mostly is the Mason Valley Truck Trail, to the junction of S2 and Hornblende Canyon at 2400 feet elevation. There were few blooms at the start of our hike at high elevation, and many blooms near the bottom of our hike at lower elevation.
Jim and Tom posted 32 observations of 29 species from this trip.
See Detailed Trip Report.
17 October 2022. Tom Chester found at least 23 species in bloom on a four mile hike north of the Vallecito Stage Station County Park, and a number of additional species in bloom along S2 from the San Felipe Valley to the County Park. Highlights included beautiful hillsides of yellow from Bahiopsis parishii; fields and fields of Pectis papposa in good bloom, and green, happy plants essentially everywhere!
Tom posted 38 observations of 26 species from this trip, mostly from the car portion of the trip. Fred Melgert and Carla Hoegen had done a very similar hike on 3 October 2022, and posted 134 observations of 55 species from this area.
See Detailed Trip Report.
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 2022 (click on "Filters" to change the dates; there were 4,741 observations of 414 species posted as of 8 November 2022.)
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)