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. Fields of chinchweed, Pectis papposa, in bloom. Left: Field just north of Christmas Circle, photographed by Don Rideout on 4 October 2025.
Right: Field near Bisnaga Alta Wash, photographed by Cathy Wiley on 5 October 2025. Click on the pix to see larger versions. Also see view of the Pectis fields in Borrego Valley seen from the pullout on the Montezuma Grade, taken by Don Rideout! | |
Latest Summary of Bloom Status
Summary as of 8 October 2025
Most of the Borrego Desert is in good bloom from the monsoonal rain in August and September! There are carpets of yellow from chinchweed, Pectis papposa, in the area around the town of Borrego Springs, and almost all along S2 from Shelter Valley to beyond Canebrake; see Fig. 1. There are undoubtedly other areas with carpets of yellow, too, such as along Split Mountain Road in the Ocotillo Wells area.
If you want to see these flowers, do not delay. The blooms on the Pectis in the Bisnaga Alta Wash area are already beginning to fade, and the green leaves on the ocotillos in that area are beginning to brown and fall off.
Monsoonal plants grow and bloom quickly, and many of them stop blooming almost as quickly. Mammillaria tetrancistra (=Cochemiea t.), common fishhook cactus, finished blooming in early September, just two weeks after the rain. Devil's claws, Proboscidea althifolia, have essentially finished blooming now, six weeks after the rain, although their "unicorn" fruit is in prime condition. Boerhavia triquetra intermedia, five wing spiderling, has already completely dried up in Shelter Valley, six weeks after the rain.
Plants still in good bloom, besides Pectis in most areas, are: Kallstroemia californica, California caltrop; and Amaranthus fimbriatus, fringed amaranth. A number of other plant species are in bloom, but in general their numbers are low, and they are not widespread, including Abronia villosa, desert sand verbena, Datura discolor, desert thorn-apple; and Allionia incarnata, trailing windmills. As of 8 October 2025, there are 199 observations of 56 species noted as being in bloom since 1 October 2025. If you click that link after 8 October, the numbers may be larger, but plants seen earlier in the month may no longer be in bloom.
Including observations not tagged as being in bloom, there are 899 obs of 160 species posted at iNat since 1 October 2025. If you click that link after 8 October, the numbers will be larger.
If you go out to see the bloom, take precautions against biting flies. Biting flies, including no-see-ums, have bothered flower lovers at Bisnaga Alta Wash on 28 September and 5 October 2025, leaving them with itchy bites that stick around for days. The horrible big flies that sometimes appear in some places "terrorized" Fred and Carla at Fossil Canyon on 7 October 2025.
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.
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.
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 15 August 2025, 281 observations of 82 species (numbers are as of 12 September 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)