Wildflowers of the Anza-Borrego

What's making a petal-pretty showing after this dry winter run?

A SIGHT WORTH SEEING: After you've seen a bit of azure poking through the sand in an arid land, the want, and even need, to experience the rare moment again can be a lifelong thing. Which means that long about late winter your mind turns to the California deserts and whether they're getting some good wildflower action. The short answer, at least following the droughty winter of 2013-2014, is no, the petal scene is not prime, but this is not shocker; predictions, and the lack of rain, said this was to be so. But of course flowers do make a showing, because they always do, if not in blanket form, then a peep here and a peep there. Dr. Ian Malcolm, as played by Jeff Goldblum, said in "Jurassic Park": "...life finds a way." It always does, each spring, and wildflowerians can take heart: Beautiful buds are making a showing around the Anza-Borrego as of late February.

THE REPORT: Pretty purple flowers popped up in Fish Creek near the end of last month, but the run isn't over yet. Following a good year of rain flowers should show into April, with buds atop cacti following the straight-up wildflowers. Want to know the when and where? There's a hotline to call, to get the flowery 411. (Though the number, of course, is not 411 -- it's 760-767-4684760-767-4684.)

BUT... if you just want some wildflowers, and the setting does not need to be desert-y, consider heading into the Sierra, where wildflower walks grow popular once spring arrives. The meadows of Yosemite make for some fine flower-searching, even when things have been on the drier side. Fingers and stems crossed for a wetter next-winter.

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