2010 Wildflower Season

[joebartels]

It's looking bleak for the desert ranges where I enjoy them most... BYOW

The Autumn Foliage Reports on the home page should automatically switch to Spring Wildflower Reports on Jan 1st.

[Randal_Schulhauser]

Improving prospects for this year's wildflower season? Or is this week of rain too little too late??

[joebartels]

I recall magnificent wildflower displays in the deserts as late as mid April. After that they seem to fade quick regardless of conditions.

[Jeffshadows]

I'm holding out hope that this storm system will really help.

[writelots]

My hike near Camp Verde this weekend was surprising in the number of seedlings coming up to become potential wildflowers. I think the show may be spotty, but I'm betting that if you know where to look, you'll find some nice bloomers.

[tibber]

I suspect wherever the wildflowers are, Letty will find them

[JoelHazelton]

I think the show may be spotty, but I'm betting that if you know where to look, you'll find some nice bloomers.

My prediction is the freeway medians will be the HOT SPOTS for wildflowers ;)

[Jeffshadows]

I think the show may be spotty, but I'm betting that if you know where to look, you'll find some nice bloomers.

My prediction is the freeway medians will be the HOT SPOTS for wildflowers ;)

Meh, depends on the county. They spray down here which usually kills the wildflowers along with the buffelgrass...

[Dschur]

Normally you need these rains in Nov and Dec to get the wildflowers going good in the desert.... I think it will be too late but maybe the ones up north will be nice....

[joebartels]

If we get another storm next week and perhaps another in the following weeks I think we'll see some rare varieties in the deserts. Obviously not the fields of poppies and lupine.

[Jim]

Didn't the low elevations get some rain in November or at least December? We had that big storm last month, shouldn't that have done the trick?

[Dschur]

The desert has been totally dry... There were a few brief showers toward the end of the year but needed ones like this week then. I noticed that the saguaros had even begin to really be skinny and the bushes and trees were even drier than normal.....

[Dschur]

January 18, 2009, 7:04 p.m.
B. POOLE
Tucson Citizen
Don't expect a budding wildflower season this year.

Southern Arizona had a normal December, but the winter is not generating enough rain to spark a prime wildflower season, an area botanist said.

For wildflowers to germinate properly, they need a healthful dose of rain in winter, said George Montgomery, curator of botany at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

The Tucson rain total for December was average (just more than an inch), but October and November combined logged 0.29 of an inch versus 1.88 inches normal for the two-month period, the National Weather Service reports.

"It wasn't enough for widespread germination," Montgomery said.

There are no seedlings in wildflower hot spots from which he has heard reports, he said.

The outlook is much the same throughout the state. Picacho Peak State Park, a wildflower mecca 40 miles north of Tucson that in good years has extensive poppy fields, has had half the rain it got last year between September and January, said Arizona State Parks spokeswoman Ellen Bilbrey.

The December rain helped.

"But whether it was enough to really launch a full poppy bloom, we don't know yet," Bilbrey said.

The landscape at Picacho is greening up nicely, but it's mostly grass, she said.

"We haven't had any reports of flowers," she said.

Because wildflower blooms are different every year and different in every spot, it's hard to predict exactly where and when or if the colors will emerge.

Alamo Lake State Park between Phoenix and Havasu City had a great year in 2007 but was a dud last year, she said.

[Jeffshadows]

I disagree. The early 2010 rains will be the deal-breaker. If we get little to no rain the next couple months, it might stink. If we get some decent rains I think we might be good to go... ;)

[joebartels]

Jan 30th 2010 for future reference

[Randal_Schulhauser]

Driving up to Flagstaff this morning I couldn't help but notice the explosion of verdant green near Anthem and the New River. Some brittlebush blooms could be spotted from the I-17. Wondering what the wildflower prospects are now with an additional rain in the forecast this week... ;)

[Jeffshadows]

I've already noticed the mechanically-seeded natives popping up in my neighborhood and at the Nature Conservancy building nearby...I hope that's a harbinger!!

[desertgirl]

Been out in the Supes and Goldfields these past 2 weekends -- the brittlebush, globe mallow and the chuparose seem to greening up and on course for March/April color...as are a number of other plants. Did not see much poppy plants though -- may be they are too small.

[joebartels]

If we can get a little bit of follow up moisture there's plenty of time for more exotic things like Canaigre, Flat Top Buckwheat, etc...

[joebartels]

All the cheatgrass we are seeing around will likely snuff out large open-field wildflower-opportunity if something doesn't come around soon.