Arizona Overview:

2008 Reports

Sept 25, 2008 Pat reports: On Monday, September 22, I was traveling north from Globe, Arizona. The first shot was taken in northern Arizona, past Show Low. It shows larger bushes with clumps of tiny yellow flowers. The next shot was taken south of there; the whole field was brilliant yellow with individual flowers. I saw at least 4 species of yellow flowers, a couple of species of white flowers, plus mullein (showy tall stalks but not colorful), and in a couple of places, jimsonweed and desert poppies. There were frequent large patches of yellow most of the distance from Globe north. The next shot was on the way back south, north of Show Low, taken on Wednesday, September 24. There were frequent fields of yellow flowers on the Apache lands.

The flowers should still be quite showy for a few days; they were more showy on my return in the Apache lands than they had been when I was going up.

May 12, 2008 IS reports: Big Park loop, Sedona, AZ

May 12, 2008 Gladys reports: The Saguaro Cactus are just starting to bloom in the Tonto National Forest and in the Prescott National Forest, both in Arizona. Be careful of the bees though, they are swarming the blooms in early morning.

I also found some great cactus specimens on hwy 74 that cuts between 17 and 93 in Arizona. I had gone out to photograph the cactus on the 9th of May but mostly found them to be way past the prime or not started. I drove from Kingman down 93 across the Presscott National Forest and down 17 into the Tonto National Forest searching for bloom.

May 6, 2008 Pat reports: The Tucson Mountains are erupting in palo verde blossoms. They are all over, in the foothills for miles, and the mountains themselves. Prickly pear and cholla are also in bloom. Taken on the east side, near El Camino del Cerro, May 5.

May 1, 2008 Rex reports: It is easy to see that the Saguaros are starting to bloom along Scottsdale Road. The arm of this cactus is approximately three feet off the ground and very easy to photograph. It is located just north of Dixileta on the east side. There are four flowers now, just out, with many more coming soon. So for a photo it's a great opt. Shot May 1, at 11:00.

April 21, 2008 Rex reports: Phoenix Botanical Gardens...To me, it is truly spectacular. The large cactus flowers seemed almost Jurassic Park in size, and the the close-ups reminded me of colorful sea anemones. It is almost impossible to visit right now and not be enthusiastic.

April 18, 2008 Rex reports: I felt very fortunate to get beautiful light on these hedgehogs, with their fresh almost perfect flowers. Shot in Carefree April 13th and 14th. Not only are the colors beautiful, nature takes care of that, but the sharp spines offer an intriguing contrast to the soft lush pedals. How lucky we are!

April 10, 2008 Pat reports: On Sunday (April 6) and Wednesday (April 9), I hiked the Sweetwater Trail into the Tucson Mountains from the end of El Camino del Cerro. The brittlebush was pretty much spent, but anybody that got up there early enough would have seen many yellow hills. The traces are still there. I went to see the mariposa lilies. I was hoping for fields of them. No such luck. There are plenty, but they are scattered. Two hillsides have them, and the better one is the later one, about 3, 3 1/2 miles in. I also saw hedgehog blooms, very spectacular, but few and far between, and ocotillo in bloom. Also, Esteve's Pincushion (with some pink flowers, which I had never seen before). And desert mallow (an area with a goodly quantity), white rhatany, white tackstem, larkspurs, resurrection ferns (but not resurrected), sand spurge, paper flowers, plantain, a few lupines, poppies, fiddlenecks, scorpionweeds, giant bursage, odora, a few prickly pear and cholla flowers (there will be more), Coulter's hibiscus, yellow flowers I don't know (a couple of species), a painted lady butterfly, and another butterfly I don't know, and some interesting beetles. This is a time to look for little surprise treasures in many nooks and crannies.

April 7, 2008 Jay reports: On inspiration from all your postings, flew in from Minnesota and took photos March 29 and 30. Keyed flowers from guide on this site, a little tentative. Along US 70 east of Globe, saw late poppies, lupine, mallow, phacelia, and desert chicory near Peridot and much the same plus owl's clover and fields of a small yellow-gold flower near Bylas. Also saw some clusters of poppies driving north from Globe on AZ 77. Along US 60 from Queen Valley area to the canyon east of Superior, brittlebush was blooming strongly and other flowers included lupine, mallow, phacelia, and fairy duster, especially near Superior. Didn't go inside Boyce Thompson Arboretum but I'll bet it's hopping. From about Fort Thomas and points east, the bloom dropped to almost nothing; the same goes for New Mexico from US 70 state line to Santa Fe.

April 4, 2008 Pat reports: Wednesday, April 2, I went to Bartlett Lake. The brittlebush were abundant on the hillsides. I also found chuparosa close to the lake. Bartlett Lake was difficult to find (I got lost for two hours) from 101. You have to take the Pima-Princess exit, which is the westernmost. Other Pima exits won't work. Then north to Cave Creek, and east to Bartlett Dam Rd. Whatever you do, don't use Google's map and directions!

I also went to Lost Dutchman SP in the Superstitions. If you don't like yellow, you're in trouble! The slopes were totally blanketed by brittlebush. Take route 88 northeast from US 60 east. Tuesday, I also found quite a bit of brittlebush on route 77 north of Winkelmann, south of Globe. I saw other species, most notably poppies, lupine, and desert mallow (in six colors), in small numbers. There are still quite a few poppies along the roadside west of San Carlos on route 70, but the spectacular color on the hills is gone.

April 3, 2008 Sara reports: Sabino Canyon has an amazing display. Many times there are 3 or 4 different kinds of flowers right next to each other. The Seven Falls trail was gorgeous a couple weeks ago.

The trails along the water and up to the Phoneline Trail are lined with flowers. I took these photos on 3/28/08 in Sabino Canyon on those trails.

April 2, 2008 Mary reports: Don't give up on the Arizona wildflower season yet! There are still 30+ species blooming at Catalina State park as of Monday, March 31. I have never seen such a variety of flowers blooming in one park. The park office said their nature walk guide reported seeing over 200 Mariposa lilies on Sunday. Mariposa's are also to be found on the King's Canyon hike at Saguaro National Park. Although the flowers are dimming there, I saw three species of flowers for the first time in my first five minutes on the trail. On March 30 at Usery Mountain Regional Park (close to Lost Dutchman State Park), the Pass Mountain trail was brilliant with brittlebush and punctuated with chuparosa. The trail was a hike through a desert garden of poppies, lupine, chicory, woolly daisies, chia, desert wishbone bush, popcorn flowers, fairy dusters, flat-top buckwheat, some stunning strawberry hedgehog cactus and more. Flower identification is easy there because they have handy lists of blooming flowers for five of their main trails.

April 1, 2008 Jan reports: This is the excellent brittlebush show happening in the Black Mountains near Yucca, in western Mohave County, Arizona. The elevation of about 2000 to 2500 feet here means that this display will be coming to an end by April 7 to 10 or so. It’s at peak now and portions of it are declining rapidly as the showiest ray flowers (i.e. the “petals”) fade and curl. These photos were taken on Saturday, March 29, 2008.

However there are alternate brittlebush areas up against the nearby Hualapai Mountains to the east of Yucca at elevations ranging from 3000 to 3700 feet that are just now beginning to fully open their buds. These areas will put on a very nice show for about the next 10 to 14 days (into mid-April) before fading away. I predict that the peak week for most of the 3000+ foot elevations will be between April 7 and 12.

I also rate the brittlebush riot of 2008 as well above average, actually about as good as I’ve seen it in 9 years of living here; so if you can appreciate mass quantities of gold against a backdrop of craggy granite peaks, teddybear chollas, saguaros, and Joshua trees, then you should make a trip to the Hualapai Mountains by mid-April. Anywhere starting from about 5 miles south of Kingman and continuing on for about the next 50 miles (all the way towards Alamo Lake and Wikieup) ought to be great in the Hualapai Mountains over the next two weeks.

The best brittlebush displays, as is common with this species, are on west, southwest, and south-facing slopes. There are plenty to go around and odds are excellent that you’ll have the entire slope to yourself. Crowds are nonexistent in this part of Arizona. So come and see!

March 27, 2008 Barbie and Nemo report: Wildflowers are here in Tucson, today! Drive to the farthest parking lot in Catalina State Park, north of Tucson. Auto admission is $6 per vehicle. Obtain trail map and description page at entry station.

Follow well-marked trail signs to SUTHERLAND TRAIL. This is an easy sand trail, with a few small rocks and some easy steps, but not suitable for wheelchairs. Bring plenty of water, a snack, hat and sunscreen, a camera with extra batteries and storage capacity, and good walking shoes or light hiking boots. Ideal timing is to begin around 8:00 a.m., although as late as 10:00 a.m. is also okay.

Stay on SUTHERLAND TRAIL as it winds in and out of patchy and abundant wildflowers. Walk a total of two miles, then come back the way you began, or wander down the running steam in the final stretch.

The highlight is near the end of your way up the trail, when you are surrounded in an immersive wild garden, with flowers as far as you can see, hillsides covered in brilliant shrubs, and mountains as a backdrop.

Flowering plants include: brittlebush, Mexican poppy, fairy duster, calylophus, lupine, phacelia distans, blue dicks, popcorn flower, desert chicory, fiddleneck, hyptis desert lavender, ephedra, owl's clover, cream cups platystemon, desert honeysuckle anisacanthus, penstemon parryi and several others!

March 26, 2008 Jan reports: Mohave County, Arizona. The display shown in the attached photos is going on just off of US Highway 93, northwest of Kingman, AZ, a mile or two past the junction with AZ Highway 68 that goes to Bullhead City/Laughlin. These are the southwestern slopes of the Cerbat Mountains at an elevation of between 3200 and 4000 feet. This area was last really good back in 2001 as far as I know, although something surely was happening in 2005 as well, which was a year I didn't manage to visit.

The combination of poppies and Mojave yuccas (Yucca schidigera) is striking - the yuccas are dramatic with their 2-foot tall candelabras of creamy white flowers. Somewhere between a third and half of the Mojave yucca population is in bloom with these massive clusters, which is a pretty heavy showing, and the poppies, as always, are visible from miles away.

Meanwhile, the brittlebush show on the Black Mountains to the west of Yucca is literally as good as I have ever seen it - hundreds of acres of bright golden flowers that carpet the bajadas below the cliffs. It looks like rivers of gold are pouring off of the slopes and out of the canyons that cut the eastern escarpment of the mesa. This, too, can be seen for miles. I need to go visit this area again - if it is this visible from a large distance, it must be eye-popping up close! Photos and a report to follow shortly, I am sure. Thanks for the Desert USA wildflower updates. I love the service you provide!

March 26, 2008 Scott reports: We were in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on March 23 and the flowers were spectacular at the higher elevations on the Ajo Mountain loop drive. The brittlebush was at peak bloom near Arch Canyon and the Estes Canyon Trail. Given the high temperatures expected in the coming week, the flowers are likely to disappear fast. The ground flowers (poppies, lupine, brittlebush, etc.) in all of the lower elevations of the park are pretty much burned out. We found a few small but spectacular patches of owl's ear clover at the higher elevations, very little lupine, and only one small patch of poppies. The ocotillos are just coming into bloom and a very few hedgehog cactus were beginning to open up.

On our visit on March 24, Saguaro National Park is almost finished for poppies and lupine. The northern part of the park had only a few areas where the brittlebush was in the last stages of bloom. On the southern end of the park just past the Desert Museum and before the Red Rock Visitor Center, the hills had a pretty good cover of brittlebush. Very little lupine present and the poppies were gone. Some smaller flowers such as the desert hibiscus were relatively abundant in the southern part of the park. As in Organ Pipe, the ocotillos were just beginning to bloom. Overall, Saguaro NP was disappointing compared to Organ Pipe Cactus NM.

The Superstition Mountains were at peak brittlebush bloom in Lost Dutchman State Park on March 24. The poppies and lupine are on the decline but the slopes were draped in glorious brittlebush yellow. In the gullies and a few of the open areas the lupine and poppies were still hanging on. To the south side of the park, beautiful clusters of chuparosa bushes were present in some of the gullies. The display looks like it has at least another week to go unless it gets terribly hot.

March 24, 2008 TW reports: These photo’s were taken on 22 March, around Bartlett Lake, mostly on the road to Bartlett Flats. We’ve been out there every weekend for the past three weeks, and it’s been a steady crescendo of color. As good as these photos are, with all the color, there are still many species that were still just buds or barely popping out. The mix of yellow and white poppies was an especially nice touch.