Super Spring Wildflowers

Ocotillo blooming in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, with a brittlebrush laden hill in the background.

Fishhook barrel cactus flowers.

Pincushion cactus...only a few inches high.

Gaudy beavertail cactus blooms.

At the end of March, I saw many buckhorn cholla cacti with lots of buds, but no blooms. Now, in mid April, they're flowering profusely.

On the way home from San Diego last week, I read that Anza Borrego was continuing to bloom very nicely, so detoured east through the mountains and into the desert. Well worth the trip! In mid April, at least this year, I found the perfect combination of many ground based flowers still in bloom, along with lots of blossoming cactus. The peak blooming time for the cactus is later than for plants like poppies and brittlebrush...there's only a very few weeks where everything is a splash of color, and that time is right now! Overall, rainfall has only been about normal this winter, but after a dry start to the season it's been wetter than average starting in January, and the rain has continued into April. Also, temperatures have been cooler than normal. This gentle weather pattern, with plentiful late season rain and cool weather, has resulted in a very fine flower season.