With above-record rainfall drenching California this winter, wildflower super blooms are possible this Spring in Death Valley (late – Feb.), Anza Borrego State Park (mid-Mar.), the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve near Lancaster (early-Apr.) and the Carrizo Plain National Monument (early-Apr.).
Tiffany Camhi of KQED, San Francisco’s public television station, reported today that with a little more rain, a super bloom of poppies, lupine, owl’s clover and other wildflowers is possible.
The National Park Service reports that “The best blooms are triggered by an early, winter-type rainstorm in September or October, followed by an El Niño weather pattern that brings above average rainfall to the Desert Southwest.”
What’s needed for this rare profusion of wildflowers are preceding years of drought and massive winter rainfalls. Both have happened, so it’s “possible.”
