HikeArizona.COM

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.

With the lack of additional rain in the past few weeks and near 80 degree temps coming this week it's looking pretty bleak for the desert.

I'm thinking that our flowering perennials will be fantastic this year, however (brittlebrush, sages, etc). I'm looking forward to July-Aug in the mountains. Has a chance to be fantastic!

Hi folks, I'm a former Lumberjill looking toward a long weekend trip to the desert this spring. I'm hoping and crossing my fingers that there'll be some great flowers. The weather stats say Tucson, Yuma and Phoenix all exceeded (by an inch or two) normal January ppt. Only Yuma is above Feb's normal ppt, but we're not halfway through the month yet.

I'm amazed at how hard it is to get predictions or reports online.

At least I'll be happy if the desert is somewhat green, even w/o the flowers. But I sure would like the blooms!

Squirrel Girl wrote:At least I'll be happy if the desert is somewhat green, even w/o the flowers. But I sure would like the blooms!

The desert's already green! I've gone to South Mountain the past couple evenings and much of it is carpeted with green grasses.

azpride wrote:

Squirrel Girl wrote:At least I'll be happy if the desert is somewhat green, even w/o the flowers. But I sure would like the blooms!

The desert's already green! I've gone to South Mountain the past couple evenings and much of it is carpeted with green grasses.

Remembering what it was like to drive down to Phoenix from Flag during March when the desert was GREEN is burned in my brain forever! Yay!

Yesterday I spent another hour and a half working on digging my car out of the snow (not done yet). My trip to AZ is keeping me sane! It better not blow out and dry up before March 4!

Any new reports? I'm a little over anxious, I think! Our snow is slowly but surely melting, yet it's still dreams of the cactus and flowers that I'll be seeing soon, that's keeping me going!

How much of all that desert green is buffel grass?

squirrelgirl huh.. hmm.. am i in love?

No flowers yet with the exception of some blooming Brittlebush I saw along the I-10. Been checking the more promising areas of South Mountain pretty regularly and there's nothing yet.

I was AMAZED at the amount of growth in the Mazatzals when we were there this weekend. There'll be something to see for sure - probably a few of the early spring flowers, but a lot more from the later blooming perennials - then the grasses should be spectacular this summer!

As for the evil, nasty scourge of buffelgrass - it will no doubt benefit from this weather as well. Right now, though, most of the b.g. that I see is still quite brown - the green is mostly shoots of spring annuals and the greening up of some of the bushes (for example, the creosotes are already buffing up!). Grasses will follow as the temps warm up...

Have seen a few desert marigolds and a couple of brittlebush flowers.. see the bushes greening and the saguaros are plumping up. Maybe a good Saguaro bloom this year as well as the cacti since they bloom later...

te-wa wrote:squirrelgirl huh.. hmm.. am i in love?

Hah, hah, Squirrelock! Ur makin' me blush! I'd share my tuna with you! ;)

Well, I stumbled upon the "Arizona State Parks Wildflowers Hotline" which I think is just their main number. I got the thumbs up for flowers in the first two weeks of March, depending. Lucky me!

http://www.arizonahighways.com/
Has a hotline for wildflower blooms.

A wildflower hotline? Ha!

http://hikearizona.com/location_g.php?ID=39
Talk is cheap, stick with Hike Arizona

joe bartels wrote: * Report this post
* Reply with quote

Re: 2010 Wildflower Season

Postby joe bartels » Feb 23 2010 9:38 pm
http://hikearizona.com/location_g.php?ID=39

HAZ has the best HOT LINE !!

Squirrel Girl wrote:[Remembering what it was like to drive down to Phoenix from Flag during March when the desert was GREEN is burned in my brain forever!

Interesting choice of words!

The desert was probably ACTUALLY burned forever!

Last time we had a winter as wet as this in the desert, the resulting growth caused a terrible wildfire season, culminating in the Cave Creek Complex fire which is the 2nd largest fire in state history.

I fear this summer may have a similar fate.

and Willow Fire. yuck.

Willow was 04. Cave Creek 05.

Two very bad years for the Verde watershed.