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: ghost flower, Mohavea confertiflora (=Antirrhinum confertiflorum), photographed by Don Rideout in Canyon 41 on 26 January 2026.
Right: desert dandelion, Malacothrix glabrata, photographed by Don Rideout at the parking space for The Cove, immediately northwest of Borrego Springs, on 30 January 2026. Click on the pix to go to the original iNat observations. | |
Latest Summary of Bloom Status
Summary as of 1 February 2026
The lower elevations of the Borrego Desert, outside of the Henderson Canyon Road Flower Fields, are now entering their period of peak bloom for this season. This is about a month earlier than normal, due to an absence of rain since 1 January 2026, and temperatures warmer than normal. In mid-January, there was about a week of high temperatures around 80 deg F that were record-setting or near record-setting for that time of year. Those temperatures were typical of mid-March, and are ones that signal annuals to concentrate on producing seeds, not flowers.
While we can't be sure when peak bloom occurred until the bloom starts to decline, in the Borrego Desert as a whole, 189 plant species have already been tagged as being in bloom at iNat since 1 January 2026. We have observed 56 native species in bloom on a hike on 21 January 2026, and 64 native species in bloom on a hike on 26 January 2026. We are essentially following the yellow line on this plot of the # species in bloom on each trip vs time.
Unless we get more rain, February is likely to be the month of peak bloom for lower elevations, with plants being crisped and generally out of bloom in March at lower elevations. The yellow line in the plot linked above stops on March ~7, because it got too hot to be in the desert, and the flowers ran out of water and mostly went to seed.
Higher elevations will have later dates of peak bloom, probably in March to maybe April, but it depends on future weather conditions.
The good rain in November and December germinated our winter / spring desert annuals throughout the park. But the lack of rain since 1 January 2026 means that many of the desert annuals are small, with few blooms on each plant. We have observed that now in the Borrego Springs area; Clark Valley; Agua Caliente Park; and Canyon 41. We have also observed some annuals wilting and/or drying up their lower leaves in order to produce at least one bloom before they totally run out of water.
New plant species are popping into bloom almost daily. Ghost flowers began to bloom in significant numbers on 23 January 2026, and desert dandelion began to carpet the Borrego Springs desert floor on 1 February 2026; see Fig. 1. We observed a bud about to open of five spot, Eremalche rotundifolia, on 30 January 2026. We have seen a number of five spot plants with buds that will probably bloom in mid-February.
Desert lilies, Hesperocallis undulata, have been blooming in significant numbers beginning in mid-January, and probably will continue to bloom for another few weeks or possibly longer. It is a good year for them in some places. However, some of them have aborted their buds probably because they have run out of water.
Brown-eyed Evening Primrose, Chylismia claviformis, is very abundant in many places on the desert floor. There were carpets of it in Ella Wash on 11 January 2026, most of which were not yet blooming then.
Parish's Goldeneye, Bahiopsis parishii, is now in full bloom, and brittlebush, Encelia farinosa, and creosote, Larrea tridentata, are starting to make a good display on the Montezuma Grade. There is also a good patch of Parish's poppy, Eschscholzia parishii in bloom there. But there are no blooms at all from the ocotillos yet, although most still have green leaves.
The Henderson Canyon Road Flower Fields, a patch about a mile long east-west along the Road, and about the same in north-south extent, are now past peak bloom. These Fields were the exception this year from the conditions in the rest of the Borrego Desert. Their "big three" plant species germinated from September rain, and the deep sand there gave them enough stored moisture to produce showy displays beginning in mid-November 2025. There were literally thousands of plants in full bloom of desert sand verbena, dune evening primrose, and hairy desert sunflower (Abronia villosa, Oenothera deltoides, and Geraea canescens). Although the Flower Fields still look great, 1/3 of the plants there are now mostly finished flowering, and are producing seed. The hairy desert sunflower, Geraea canescens, is now mostly finished, as are some of the sand verbena and dune evening primrose plants. See Fig. 2 for photographs taken about one month apart for a period of three months.
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| Fig. 2. Photos from the Henderson Canyon Road Flower Fields taken roughly one month apart (not always from the same exact location).
Top: Left: Field of desert sand verbena, Abronia villosa, and hairy desert sunflower, Geraea canescens. Right: Field of hairy desert sunflower, Geraea canescens. Photos by Pam Blake, taken on 20 November 2025. Click on the pix for larger versions. Middle: Left: A field of desert sand verbena, Abronia villosa, peppered with dune evening primrose, Oenothera deltoides taken by @dgrimmphd on 22 December 2025. Right: A field of hairy desert sunflower, Geraea canescens, taken by @plantbard on 20 December 2025. Bottom: Left: Field of dune evening primrose, Oenothera deltoides, and desert sand verbena, Abronia villosa. Right: a plant of hairy desert sunflower, Geraea canescens, that has mostly finished blooming, as is the case for most of the plants of that species. Photos by Tom Chester on 30 January 2026. Click on the pix to go to the original iNat observations. | |
Some species are mostly not present so far this year, including Nemacladus species, and most lupines other than L. arizonicus. These species typically germinate later than many of our annual species, and so may yet appear. But the lack of rain since 1 January may mean the numbers of these species will be few.
See also previous versions of this page which reported on the monsoonal blooms caused by late August and September 2025 rainfall.
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.
26 January 2026: Canyon 41 by Tom Chester, Ted Caragozian, Jeff Field, Miranda Kennedy, Mark Stevens, Randy Ricketts, Don Rideout, Jim Roberts, and Tom White. 64 native species in bloom; see bloom list in the report.
25 January 2026: South Anza Borrego by @planetaverde303. 34 blooming species posted at iNat.
21 January 2026: Agua Caliente Moonlight Canyon by Tom Chester, Ted Caragozian, Jeff Field, Don Rideout, and Jim Roberts. At least 56 native species in bloom; see bloom list in the report.
16 January 2026: Mason / Oriflamme Valley by Tom Chester, Nancy Bee (Baumeister), Kate Harper, Don Rideout, and Jim Roberts. 33 native species in bloom; see bloom list in the report.
11 January 2026: Ella / Smoke Tree Wash Loop; Arroyo Salado by Tom Chester, Don Grimm, Kate Harper, and Don Rideout.
6 January 2026: Plum Canyon, by Tom Chester and Don Rideout. 29 native species in bloom.
2 January 2026: Cove Area by Tom Chester and a group of ten other people. 40 species in bloom posted at iNat; the total was probably higher.
30 December 2025: Anza Borrego 2025-12-30 Botanical Report by @planetaverde303. 10 species in bloom.
28 December 2025: Canyon North of Henderson Cyn by Tom Chester, Blake Bass, Pam Blake, Ted Caragozian, Kate Harper, Margaretha Kloos, Karen Parke, and Cathy Wiley. 42 species in bloom, all native.
22 December 2025: Mine Canyon by Tom Chester and Kate Harper. 27 species in bloom, 25 native.
17 December 2025: Pholisma Branch of Mine Canyon by Tom Chester and Don Rideout. 31 species in bloom, 30 native.
12 December 2025: Pinyon Mountain Road by Tom Chester, Don Rideout, Steve and Gaylee Rogers. 34 species in bloom.
5 and 8 December 2025: Coyote Creek Area from Di Giorgio Road to Henderson Canyon Road Flower Fields by Tom Chester and Don Rideout, and Henderson Canyon Road Flower Fields by Tom Chester.
5 December 2025: Anza Borrego 2025-12-05 Botanical Report by @planetaverde303. 14 species in bloom.
26 November 2025: Palo Verde Canyon by Tom Chester and Don Rideout. Just three species in bloom, with only a single plant for two of them.
23 November 2025: Henderson Canyon Road Flower Fields by Tom Chester, Jeff Field, Don Rideout, Jim Roberts, and Mark and Rebecca Stevens.
17 November 2025: Coyote Creek Di Giorgio Road to First Crossing by Tom Chester, Ted Caragozian, and Don Rideout, Ted Caragozian. 37 species in bloom.
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)