Anza-Borrego may not have much of a wildflower bloom this year due to lack of rain, but who knows, we might still get some rain yet!
There are a few wildflowers blooming now in the canyons if you know where to look! Mitchell Sterling spotted all of the plants above during a recent hike up Hellhole Canyon to Maidenhair Falls. He also captured the blooms below as he explored Fish Creek Wash and Split Mountain Gorge.
HELLHOLE CANYON
HELLHOLE CANYON
Desert Trumpet (Eriogonum inflatum), Desert Lavender (Condea emoryi), Chuparosa (Justicia californica), Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii), Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris), Bladderpod Bush (Peritoma arborea).
FISH CREEK WASH
FISH CREEK WASH
Desert Lavender (Condea emoryi), Thick Leaf Ground Cherry (Physalis crassifolia), Downy Dalea (Dalea mollissima), Orcutt's Woody Aster (Xylorhiza orcuttii), Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata), Desert Tobacco (Nicotiana obtusifolia), Milkvetch (Astragalus crotalariae).
Have you ever wondered what's the longest Anza-Borrego has gone without rain?
Here's a chart showing the ten longest dry spells with rain less than or equal to 0.1 inch since Jan 7, 1942.
(A daily rain of less than 0.1 inch is not of much use for our plants.)
Our longest dry spell (334 days!) was just this past year and finally got broken with 0.38 inches of rain at the Park rain gauge a few days ago n Feb 13-14!
We hope for significant rain in the coming weeks to bring much needed moisture to the desert for our annual wildflowers, as well as for the desert's parched cacti, shrubs, and trees.
