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DesertUSA - Wildflower Reports For Nevada & Utah 2009

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2009 Reports

May. 26, 2009 Jim reports: Found this single cactus in bloom in the upper part of Monument Valley Utah.

May. 8, 2009 Rick and Margarita reports: Mormon Wells Rd to the pass and down to Sawmill rd. We went to Corn Cr. Ranger Station Sunday morning to make the loop over Mormon Wells Rd to hiway 93. We saw a wide range of flowers scattered about here and there. Cactus, asters, "belly flowers", paint brush and some others. After descending from the Sawmill rd, the landscape opens up into a burn area. We were not prepared for the magnificent display before us. For miles northward along the east flanks of the Sheep range were a wide variety of wildflowers. The predominent flower being globemallow but also lots of others I don't know the names of. I am sending lots of pictures and I will let them do the talking.

May. 1, 2009 Mark reports: Today, I drove through one of the most amazing wildflower display I’ve seen in the last 25 years. Sometime in the last 2-3 years, wildfire burned much of the flora in the Las Vegas Range alongside Mormon Well Road/Sawmill Road in Nevada. The plains out there are covered in Apricot Mallow, Desert Dandelions, Purple Sage, Fiddleneck, several paintbrushes, Desert Plume, Eriogonum inflatum (I’d never seen them blooming until today), Bush Peppergrass, and more I didn’t recognize. Map Link

Apr. 23, 2009 Carol reports: April 22, 2009, an afternoon on foot in Calico Basin, Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, revealed many plants in bloom. On the first stop along the wash I saw patches of phacelia, yellow wooly daisies, a few clumps of wild rhubarb, desert marigolds, Mojave asters, globe mallow, humble gilia, desert alyssum, purple mat and in the distance some spikes of yellow penstemon. Due to recent sprinkles and even an unseasonable snow, most desert plants are looking pretty green. If the “scheduled” heat wave doesn’t do them in, many more budded plants will be blooming in a few days.

Farther into the basin, a hike around the north side of the rock formations at Red Spring found more species in bloom. There were desert larkspur, Indian paintbrush, golden cryptantha, amsonia, straggling mariposa, wild hyacinths (blue dicks), blue-eyed grass, Mojave sand verbena, cliff roses, dyssodia, beavertail, strawberry hedgehog, bastard toadflax, paperflowers and astragalus. Some were well along in bloom and others just starting.

At one point there was a sudden scratching rattle from a clump of blackbrush nearby and a desert cottontail, ears stiffly vertical at attention, went bounding away as fast as it could go. The ever present lizards seemed especially skittish and none would hold still for photos. As the sun began going down behind the sandstone cliffs and throwing shadows, the night bloomers began popping open. There were some wonderful desert four o’clocks and clumps of yellow primroses.

Apr. 22, 2009 Mike reports: Photos were taken at Valley of Fire and along the St Thomas Cove Road on April 18. We found enceliopsis agrophylla, Arctomecon californica, Baileya multiradiata, Enchinocereus engellmanni, Opuntia bigelvii, Erigonum fasciculatum, and Sphaeralcea ambigua, among others, in bloom.

Apr. 20, 2009 Sky reports: We took a hike near lake mead and saw many wildflowers! was lovely and uncrowded as no one knows about these new trails yet- so i'm not telling anyone but you!

Apr. 10, 2009 Paul reports: The local Cholla in the Enterprise area of the Las Vegas valley are starting to show their silky greenish yellow blooms highlighted by new pad growth with purple tinged needles. The Beavertail Prickly Pear cactus are starting their spring show with multiple magenta blooms highlighted by bluish green pads. This specimen was photographed in the Enterprise area of the Las Vegas valley. You don't have to wander outside of metropolis to find lots of wonderful desert bloomers this season.

Mar. 22, 2009 James reports: Pictures I took on March 21 on the old railroad trail at Lake Mead. Their are lots of flowers blooming right now and it looks like their will be a lot more blooming in the next few weeks.

Mar. 22, 2009 David reports: Last weekend I went to the Whitney Tanks area south of Mesquite, Nevada. We saw Globemallow along the road and a few Paintbrush scattered about. The Poppies were blooming and covered quite a large area of the well-drained slopes on the Virgin mountains, either side of the Whitney Tanks. There were other yellow composites and quite a few little purple flowers I didn't know, some that looked like bells that were also in the fields of poppies.

Mar. 17, 2009 Jenny reports: Went out to Red Rock Canyon Natural Conservation Area outside of Las Vegas today. It has been a cold winter this year with temperatures just now getting into the lower 70’s during the day. Sprouts are starting to come up everywhere. Give it another 2-3 weeks and it should be a good wildflower year. I saw one globemallow plant that was in bloom and two milkvetch, but that was it.

Mar. 15, 2009 Carol reports: No photos--windy. The old railroad trail at Lake Mead seems to be blooming at its peak now with phacelia, sundrops, a few lupine, chicory, popcorn flower, mentzelia, a few desert daisies and one glorious giant sunray. Your website is great--not too many reports from Lake Mead though.

Mar. 5, 2009 Stan reports: I went to the Devil Peak area of the southern Spring Mountains in Nevada, and saw some greenery, but it's still early; the bees were concentrating on the tiny blooms of desert mistletoe in the catclaw acacias. The State Line Hills on the Nevada/California seemed very dry, not much is even sprouting. The Cottonwood Cove area at the north end of Lake Mojave (< 1000') is however in full bloom, with lots of phacelias, suncups, lupines, desert chicory, fiddlenecks, desert plantains, etc. Clumps of climbing milkweeds are blooming along the side of the road, and in sandy areas I observed both yellow and white woolly daisies, blazing stars, and gold poppies, while the rock daisies and pepperweeds are getting started up in the rocks. Brittlebushes seem to be a mixed bag, with some in full bloom and others still putting up flower stems. In general, the rain pattern for southern Nevada seems to have been very patchy this year, with green in one area, nothing a mile away, then more green.

Feb. 17, 2009 Brenton reports: At Placer Cove, upper Lake Mojave, Clark County, Nevada. The yellow flowers are Mojave Sun Cups and the bluish flowers are Wild Canterbury Bells which are smaller than it's cousin Desert Canterbury Bells. Elevation 500'. Outside temperature was 46 degrees Fahrenheit. Strong wind and light rain.

Feb. 8, 2009 Brenton reports: Just got back from camping at Las Vegas Wash Campground, elevation 1000'. Brittlebush is blooming. It was very windy and raining: ie a good 1" of rain.

Jan. 25, 2009 Frank reports: Redrock Canyon & Calico Basin Redsprings, both have received rain this week. Wed. evening saw a lite but steady rain over night, the same on Thurs. Fri. saw a lite but steady drizzle for most of the early morning. Fri. saw some lite rain over night into sat morning where a heavy mist remained until mid morning, The deserts here are beginning to show signs of greening up so get those cameras ready. I did spot a lizard this morning along with a few bees roaming around.

Jan. 19, 2009 F.L. reports: Found this early this morning in Redrock Canyon 1/19/09. First of the year?

Jan. 1, 2009 DUSA reports: Some early rain and snow may help the wildflowers this year.

Pine Creek Wash at Red Rock Canyon, near Las Vegas in December 2008.
Photo: Brenton William Cooper.

2008 Reports

Dec. 18, 2008 DUSA reports: Snow hit Las Vegas and rain the southern part of the state.

Sept 25, 2008 Pat reports: On Monday and Tuesday, September 23, I was traveling in southeastern Utah. The large bushes with clumps of yellow flowers were more frequent and larger. They were primarily along the road, but with some in fields. These same bushes were frequent in the southern portion of Canyonlands. I also saw scattered small bushes with compound flowers with lilac ray flowers and yellow cone flowers. Unfortunately, I don't know the species in this area. The ranger in the visitor center said that they had a good crop of wildflowers this fall. In my experience, wildflowers are more common in August and September in northern Arizona in the higher altitudes, so I suspect the same holds true of southern Utah. The elevation in Canyonlands is well above a mile. The final picture was taken in Canyonlands.

2008 Wildflower Season - Videos
click on link below

Nevada and Utah Wildflowers

More Videos
Arizona Wildflowers

Anza Borrego Desert State Park

Death Valley National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

Mojave Desert and Southern California

Some pictures and slide shows from 2006 and 2005

We have made a slideshow of 45 pictures we received during the 2005 season. We have now added 2006 If you have a fast connection - Flash - click below to enjoy the show.

2006 Wildflower season. - Click here to play.

2005 Wildflower season. - Click here to play

Make your plans now to be in the desert during the wildflower season and take your digital camera with you. Send your pictures and reports to Jim@desertusa.com. He will post them on the wildflower reports site so that everyone can enjoy the wildflowers. Please do not change the automatically generated subject line on your E-mail to us. We use this subject to make sure we are able to spot your E-mail.

More wildflower reports

Other DesertUSA Resources
Desert Plants
Wildflower Information & Hotlines
When Will The Wildflowers Bloom?
Wildflower Intro. Packages
Books on Cacti, Wildflowers, & Other Flora