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The lower desert areas of the state seem to be setting up for a nice wildflower season

If these weekly to bi-monthly rains keep up we might see something mid January if not sooner

Wildflower Observations
28 Day Wildflower Report Map

hexclimber wrote:

Alston Neal wrote:We were driving in from California yesterday on I-10 and the fields of Globemallow spanning acres was unlike anything we've ever seen.
They were between the Salome Rd. and the Hovatter Rd. on both sides of the freeway. More on the south side though.
Sorry no pics, no camera.

Where are Salome and Hovatter Roads?
Thanks,
Jerry

According to Google: Interstate 10, Exit 81, Tonopah, Arizona.

I just spent 8 days in SE AZ (Safford, Willcox, Chiricahuas and other than a few Poppy Patches, there isn't much down that way at all....

Outdoor Lover wrote:I just spent 8 days in SE AZ (Safford, Willcox, Chiricahuas and other than a few Poppy Patches, there isn't much down that way at all....

Any large spreads of poppies?

I just went to Borrego area desert in SoCal, near Vallecito. No flowers to speak of, just a few here and there. I didn't see any poppies.

azbackpackr wrote:I just went to Borrego area desert in SoCal, near Vallecito. No flowers to speak of, just a few here and there. I didn't see any poppies.

I was in Anza-Borrego last April, but I was a little late to catch the peak of the bloom... Still an interesting place in its own right.
Jerry

@hexclimber
Just a few pretty stretches along Hwy 191 between Safford and Willcox...I would call the area "Moderate" at best....

Lots of Brittle Bush blooming along the Beeline or Highway 87 no poppies

Outdoor Lover wrote:I just spent 8 days in SE AZ (Safford, Willcox, Chiricahuas and other than a few Poppy Patches, there isn't much down that way at all....

Agreed. I too was in the chiri's over the weekend and there wasn't much in the way of spring blooms in the lowlands. (How about that WIND though? Sheesh, it was strong.)

Unless of coarse the storm is a giant dud, if the deserts get a decent (1/4 to 1/2" of rain?) early next week, is that too late, or is that considered to be a good time to start getting rain for flowers? Now, I ask this becuase, 1) I have virtually no experience with desert flower shows (natural) and 2) there have been historical posts about rain being required in November to facilitate the growth of the spring flower crop. Too early, such as our October deluges, and it does nothing. Too, late, such as mid-December and possibly this storm, and it facilitates exotic grasses.

Very odd seeing Brittlebush around the valley blooming in November. Instead of the notorious widespread hillsides it's occasional. Seems to be where water accumulates, shade from something such as a tree or elevation based. The bees are out but not the Iron Cross Beatles of April that are associated with the tail end of Brittlebush season. It's not uncommon to see one plant blooming and a nearby one not even leafed out.

Need the rain now. Think the catch is the overnight lows need to hold or it ruins the cycle?

2001 was a big year for the crowd pleasing poppies. It was hitting Jan 1st as seen in photoset number ten. Could look over the historical weather leading up on that one. 2008 was a great wildflower year too, didn't seem as early.

We had Brittlebush flowering around here, but it seemed totally random. 2007 was a good, in fact really good December, so perhaps, if this system is wet, that will start things out well. I recall November of that year being dry. I went to Organ Pipe about this time, and it was bone dry down there, with the creosote looking particularly miserable. Obviously, it depends on subsequent systems, too, and January to February was wet in Flagstaff, at least. It turned dry, though, right as March began.

With the desert rains we had in the fall, warm temperatures throughout the winter, and the rain expected over the next day or two, flower season may begin in earnest in the next couple of weeks :budrose: :kf:

I've already seen a photo or two with them starting to sprout.

Wildflower Observations
28 Day Wildflower Report Map

With January almost past it won't be a bumper crop year. Still could be fair, holding hope
Unfortunately cheatgrass took hold weeks ago...

edit: later 3.5 hours later
...the rain we are getting this evening is encouraging!

I am really looking forward to some crowd pleasing poppies. Where can I find them?

Crowds and Poppies? Picacho Peak is known for it's Poppy Show....

In a good year you won't need to look. They get pretty intense from Oracle to Superior if you want to see endless fields on the horizon. They typically first appear on the National Trail on South Mountain between the radio towers and Goat Hill.

Mexican Gold Poppy - Arizona / February

Well, I did see a few isolated ones on SR 77 last week. Perhaps, with the warm temps forecast later this week, they will start to grow and flower? I am curious what is common in the Tucson Mountain Range, and Catalina-Rincon Mountains, as I have never seen much in these parts, and suspect it is largely a brittlebrush show.

Good places are Picacho Peak, Organ Pipe, and north of Oracle. Good to know.

joe bartels wrote:They typically first appear on the National Trail on South Mountain between the radio towers and Goat Hill.

saw one today out in the Goldfields. Ambika got the shot as we were trudging up a rather tall hill .

Park Links Road, maybe, in Pima County, from Florence Highway south. Not sure the date to start looking.

My best poppy photo shoots and just viewing from Mammoth to Winkelman ( sometimes the spread on the reservation is incredible--golden steep hillsides); then some of the low dirt hills around Globe.