Wildflowers

[joebartels]

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

[Alston_Neal]

On the plus side, I won't be spending hours hoeing the Oncosiphon piluliferum (L. f.) Källersjö out of my yard this year.

[chumley]

@Alston_Neal Somehow the unwanted things in my yard seem to be as healthy as ever. At least the rain last week made it a near-pleasure to remove them over the weekend (triplog and photoset to follow).

[SpiderLegs]

I haven't seen any wildflowers around the desert areas near my neighborhood when I'm out walking the dog. Plus this has been the easiest year for weed eradication ever, think I have about 5 weeds in my front yard. Haven't even seen the palo verdes start to blossom up at all either.

[DixieFlyer]

@chumley
round-up works wonders on those pesky, unwanted weeds

[Jim]

I thought we had a more recent flower thread than this?

Either way, I saw some small lupines and poppies along Orange Grove Rd down here, about 2 weeks ago, and then I think I saw those African Daisy flowers near the Phoenix Preserve 3 weeks ago. Other than that, I'm not really even seeing green exotic grass growing.

[big_load]

Last week I saw crocuses and snowdrops a bit south of here. We still have six inches of snow on the ground, what's left of what was close to four feet at the deepest. Apart from the buds on the trees, there's little sign of plant life in the NW corner of NJ.

[te_wa]

i have more gold poppies in my front yard than i've seen in the supes

[tibber]

Wildflower 2023 Alert: Estrella Regional Park 2-24-2023 I found abundant wildflowers (poppies, scorpionweed, bladder pod, lupine, fiddleneck) on the Butterfield, Gadsen, Flycatcher (new trail and not on printed map but part of the Gadsen), Gadsen, Butterfield route (easiest way to hike it as a clockwise loop). Start from the Arena Area on the Coldwater Trail and head south. At the Butterfield junction, go east. You can make this a longer hike too. The way I did it was 6 miles. The lupine are giant-like in some areas as was some of the London Rocket (never seen so much and it's not pretty to look at thus justifying it's weed classification). Poppies were plentiful as was the Bladderpod and Scorpionweed. Trail tread is easy. I'm working on pictures and movies but just wanted to let you know. (And don't let Google try to take you on the outside of the Park as you need to enter the park $7).

The other wildflower abundance was at the Phoenix Sonoran Preserve South - Desert Vista TH. The wildflowers were found on the eastern side of the Cactus Wren Trail and western side of the Great Horned Owl Trail (see photoset for locations [ photoset ] )

[tibber]

Wildflower Alert 2-25-2023 Phoenix Mountain Preserve LV Yates Northeast side coming up the hill north bound all the way to just below the house on 36th St. Poppies on both sides of the trail and some small Lupine and Scorpionweed scattered about and those little pink flowers (Filaree?) This northeast side of the Preserve is very green and there are intermittent poppies on 8A. More poppies and lupine can be found on the north side of VOAZ as well.

[tibber]

I know you all are seeing wildflowers now but I'm still going to list what I find for those who want to photograph. This afternoon in the Phx Sonoran North Preserve on the Apache Wash Trail off of the Ocotillo Trail near the TH:. There were poppies patches alone and sometimes blended with Lupine and Bladderpod; made for some nice photos, even though the poppies were cold too. There were also areas of Lupine on both sides of the trail. I suspect there's more up on the Sidewinder as you go west but I got cold and didn't finish my route after checking on the owls over on the Esplanade Trail (FYI - south owl was home, no sign of the north owl).

[tibber]

Okay, I got to finish my hike from Sunday and the Sonoran Preserve North can give Picacho a run for the money. Ridgeback has some great patches, especially the Overlook Trail. Really, it was outstanding almost all the way around Sidewinder (from the TH)/Apache Vista/Apache Wash Connector to Ocotillo/Ridgeback and Ridgeback Overlook Loop/Sidewinder. I took way too much video if that's any indication. And everyone I encountered almost had their mouths open after walking past some of this. The usual suspects: Poppies/Lupine (en masse)/Scorpionweed/Small Stock Flower and of course, the desert floor is green, green, green. Buckhorn Chollas has its red on its tips too. Oh, and one rattler today.

[Moovyoaz]

Hiked Picacho on February 18, and the Mexican poppies were near blinding, best I've seen there in years! I'm an Arizona native, and always say never curse the rain in the desert.

[tibber]

Hardly any wildflowers in the Cone/Brown Mountain area of the McDowell Sonoran Preserves North. In fact, I didn't see a lot of evidence of wildflowers to be. It's green out there but other than that I maybe saw 5 smatterings of poppies and some lupine here and there with other co-stars.

[tibber]

I hit the Motherlode north of the Cholla Saddle on the Dixie Mountain Loop (west side) - Phoenix Sonoran Preserve South (PSP South). Actually the whole hike had lots of blooming flora and the great thing is the mixture of flowers including Owl Clover, though not any large patches of Owl Clover... yet. There was lots and lots of lupine and of course, lots of poppies and other usual suspects. It was great!

PS Momma owl doesn't have any babies that I could see. Another hiker said they're running behind a couple weeks. He also keeps track of the owls on PSP North. He did confirm both mommas were in residence as I had only seen the south owl.

[tibber]

Bartlett's hills have lots of poppies. The roads to the far recreation area have nice displays of wildflowers though not to the level of 2019. HOWEVER, those are some giant flowers out there, including the tallest Chia I've ever seen and lots of them.

Bush Highway has massive poppies on both sides of the road with the best stances north of Saguaro Lake turnoff. There are some great stances of Owl Clover and a couple herds of horsess thrown in for good measure. North of Butcher Jones Road is loaded with poppies and lupine and some other little ground flowers. Oh and a biting spider.

[Nighthiker]

Been making twice weekly trips to the East Valley along Bush Hiway from Payson. Lot of folks roaming about surprised no reports of snake bites.

[CannondaleKid]

Lot of folks roaming about surprised no reports of...

... anyone being hit as they step out to cross the road in front of traffic.
Doesn't help when they park with the tires over the white line.

[RedRoxx44]

A place I've never heard of has an incredible spread of wildflowers over in Cali. Encourage you to look at it's page on Desert USA. Carrizo Plains National Monument.

[tibber]

Plenty of variety of wildflowers on the Needle Vista hike to Hackberry. All sorts too, including some big patches here and there. However, we did have trouble following our route from time to time but we were wanting to do a specific hike of this area.

[chumley]

I just thought it might be time to start talking about the first sprouts of spring magic. BobP saw a single petal last Saturday. It was exhilarating and a sign of things to come.