Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers: Bloom report



Did it rain? Where did it rain? We collect data from most of the professional local weather stations, click on the cloud below.
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Data are collected following the hiked path shown below and includes the immediate area.
One fertile flower (male or female), is all it takes to count a species in bloom.

We try to visit a lot of different areas, but areas with a better bloom may be visited more often.
It makes a huge difference if the bloom count is from a very dry badlands area, or from a place with a good rainfall or along a creek.

The data in the graph are averaged out over a couple of days, to show the actual daily bloom count in the graph, click on the legend on the right until only one is active (black).
With only one selected bars will pop up representing the daily bloom count.


Tom Chester made a couple of great pages with more specific data: Tom Chester bloom reports

The 2025-2026 bloom report:

 ©BorregoWildflowers.org

2025/2026 Bloom

September 21 2025

We got rain. On August 24 and 25, more than an inch fell in Canebrake, Agua Caliente, Fish Creek, and Ocotillo Wells. Rain can be very localized.

September 3, more than 3/4" fell around Borrego Springs.

September 17 Palm Canyon even got 1.73"

All the ingredients for a good flower season are present.

October 5 Best bloom around Borrego Springs.

October 7 The best bloom along the S2 is from Potrero up to Indian Gorge.
Rather dry past Indian Gorge up to Ocotillo.
But rain fell spottily, so there might be good spots anywhere.

October 10 Bloom is going downhill fast, best around Borrego Springs

October 24 Bloom is almost gone, best north of Borrego Springs


Click on the blue cloud above to head to our detailed rain data page.

More info on Tom Chester 2026 bloom report.

October/28/2027 Espinosa Pine Valley Creek Loop

 We wanted to see the Tetradymia comosa | hairy horsebrush, in bloom, but with temperatures reaching 80°F and the area looking very dry, our chances were slim.
We didn't find any blooming plants.

However, we did see Ericameria palmeri palmeri | Palmer's goldenbush, in bloom.
The best blooming plant by far was Gutierrezia sarothrae | matchweed.
Surprisingly, the Eriogonum fasciculatum foliolosum, or leafy California buckwheat, was blooming better than expected, making it the second best blooming plant.

We found a couple of nice blooming Ericameria pinifolia, pine goldenbushes.
Although it looks dry, the Rhus ovata, or sugar bush, looks better than in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
Jepsonia parryi, Parry's jepsonia, are still present at the same location but in greater numbers.
A good number of Xanthisma junceum, rush-like bristleweed, are in bloom on the trail.

Torrential Pine Valley Creek is now completely dry. When you don't need it, it's easy to cross.

Note: It's still hot. Start early, and bring more water than you think you'll need.

Temperature: 80-91, sunny, sometimes a light breeze.

Bloom: Very low, dry.


Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.

October/27/2027 Inspiration Point Wash loop

 We noticed that there was a recent flash flood in Inspiration Wash and that it has mostly gone at Fonts Wash.
That checked out on the ground, and while hiking counterclockwise, the first half of the plants looked great, but in the second half, the plants looked a lot dryer.
Pectis papposa papposa | chinchweed, was scattered throughout most of our loop but was more scarce and smaller on the east side.
Even on the east side, however, the small plants sometimes numbered in the thousands.

The hundreds of Ambrosia dumosa | burro bush, looked amazingly good.
Abronia villosa villosa | desert sand verbena, reacts more slowly to monsoonal rains, but the blooming plants are growing larger.
Psorothamnus schottii is full of "spider webs," which might be insects.

Blooms on Psorothamnus spinosus | Smoketree, Psorothamnus schottii | Indigo bush, and Larrea tridentata | Creosote bush are always a good indicator of rain.
Another good blooming plant is Isocoma acradenia eremophila | toothed-leaved alkali goldenbush.

We have germination of Chylismia claviformis peirsonii | brown-eyed primrose, Astragalus crotalariae | Salton milkvetch, as well as some large Geraea canescens | desert sunflower, where water had pooled.
The number of Brassica tournefortii | Sahara mustard is still low, but that will change.

On our return route, the hundreds of Kallstroemia californica | California caltrop, finally bloomed.
We found two Psorothamnus emoryi | Emory's indigo bush plants with Pilostyles thurberi | Thurber's pilostyles.

Note: It's still hot. Start early, and bring more water than you think you'll need.

Temperature: 75-87, sunny, sometimes a light breeze.

Bloom: Good for the time of year


Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.

October/25/2025 Dry canyon loop

 We needed a place that was cooler and where we expected monsoonal rain.

I think we hiked in one of the best places right now.

Bahiopsis parishii | Parish's goldeneye, reacts well to good rainfall, and the bloom here is as good as it gets.
The larger boulders help the Bahiopsis parishii, the runoff provides extra water, and the rocks remove competing plants.

We went back in time to see the Pectis papposa papposa | chinchweed, in bloom. Many of the plants were still fresh.
The smell wasn't as overwhelming as it was in the low desert.

The Ericameria brachylepis | boundary goldenbush, is blooming well, but that's normal for this time of year.

Boerhavia triquetra intermedia | fivewing spiderling, is another monsoonal plant that is less visible, yet still abundant.

The most abundant plants are Amaranthus fimbriatus | fringed amaranth, followed by Pectis papposa papposa | chinch weed.

Some other perennials took the opportunity to bloom.

Note: The Mirabilis laevis retrorsa here are white and somewhat red, but not as red as the coastal M. laevis crassifolia.
And the M. laevis retrorsa here have clear retrosa hairs.

We are looking for hybrids between Encelia actoni, Acton brittlebush, and Encelia farinosa, brittlebush, where they bloom at the same time.
We expect that some of these plants are hybrids; the branching of some Encelia actoni is similar to that of Encelia farinosa farinosa.

Temperature: 64-78 (estimate) sunny, sometimes a light breeze.

Bloom: Good for the time of year


Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.

October/24/2025 Volcan mountain

 It's over 90 degrees in town, so Volcan Mountain is a good place to be.
That said, we were warned about the frequent mountain lion sightings, so we made more noise than usual.

On our previous loop, we encountered water, but this time, the creek was completely dry.
All of the artificial watering holes had completely dried up.

Our first stop was a known location of Phoradendron juniperinum now called Phoradendron libocedri, incense cedar mistletoe, which we wanted to see bearing fruit, and we did.

Other highlights included many blooming Corethrogyne filaginifolia, California aster, and a couple of Monardella breweri lanceolata, or Mustang mint, in bloom.

The views of the San Felipe Valley Wildlife Area and the coast were spectacular.

Temperature: 40-67, sunny, no wind, perfect.

Bloom: Low, hardly anything in bloom.


Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.

October/21/2025 Navajo canyon trail Apex mountain loop

 Our goal was to find more uncommon plants.
We succeeded, adding five new plants to our list.

Navajo Canyon is a small, rocky canyon trail that is home to many: Ambrosia monogyra | Singlewhorl Burrobrush
It's non-native, but the fruit is spectacular: Helminthotheca echioides | Bristly Oxtongue

We wanted to complete the Epilobium canum ssp. and now we have: Epilobium canum ssp. canum
We had a surprise find: a large number of blooming Stemodia durantifolia durantifolia | Purple Stemodia

Our main target for today was Holocarpha virgata elongata | Graceful Tarplant but things looked bleak.
This one is a true dry desert survivor, though, and we found several in better and better bloom.
Initially, we thought that all of the plants had three ray flowers, but then we found a single plant with five ray flowers.

Some of the best blooming plants were again the Jepsonia parryi, or Parry's Jepsonia.
Along our entire trip, Baccharis sarothroides, or desert broom.

Everything looks even drier than yesterday, except near creeks.

Temperature: 60-90, partly cloudy, hardly any wind.

Bloom: Low, some plants in bloom.


Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/20/2025 Gunpowder Rd - Rice canyon

 Our goal was to find uncommon plants closer to the coast.
We succeeded, adding nine new plants to our list, as well as several others that we had not seen in bloom before.

We made an unexpected great find: several locations of blooming plants: Ambrosia pumila | San Diego Ambrosia
The best find of the day was something we had hoped to find, but had not expected to: Deinandra conjugens | Otay Tarplant

Some of the best blooming plants were the Jepsonia parryi, or Parry's Jepsonia.
Along our entire trip, Baccharis sarothroides, or desert broom.

Everything looks very dry, except along the coast and near creeks.

Temperature: 60-90, sunny, hardly any wind.

Bloom: Low, some plants in bloom.


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October/18/2025 Lake Henshaw

 It's greener than we've ever seen.
It's home to many wetland plants, including hundreds of oxybasis rubra | red pigweed.

We were puzzled by a very common plant that we later saw in large quantities.
iNaturalist was no help, as it doesn't identify less common plants.
We guessed Nama stenocarpa | Mud Nama, but the plants didn't resemble the large ones we found in another location.
But the flower and the leaf were strikingly similar, so this must be the plant we've been looking for here before and never found.

There was one very large plant that looked like the plant we expected to find here, but never did: Amaranthus californicus | California pigweed.
We've seen it a couple of times recently, so we could make a good identification, and the fruit made the identification definitive.

We've been looking for Symphyotrichum frondosum | short-rayed alkali aster, and now we've found a single, nice, blooming, small plant.

It's interesting that we don't recognize a plant at all, yet it's here by the hundreds.
It matches Ammannia robusta | grand ammannia, but we only found plants with wrinkled flowers.
However, we did see flowers that were still in bud. Luckily, we found one nice flower that confirms the identification.

It was a great hike, and we saw two plants that were new to us in San Diego County.

Temperature: 51-78, sunny, hardly any wind.

Bloom: The best we've ever seen, but most bloom is almost invisible and best around or past noon.


Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/17/2025 Volcan Montain - San Felipe Valley Wildlife Area (permit only)

 This area is closed to the public.
We take an easy hike along the edge of Volcan Mountain on a dirt road that is not in use.
We wondered who made this wide road with markers in the middle of nowhere.

This is tree territory, home to many Pseudotsuga macrocarpa | bigcone Douglas fir, one of the more recognizable trees.

The best blooming plants are the Ericameria parishii parishii | Parish's goldenbush, and the Corethrogyne filaginifolia | California aster.
The variety of plants was much better than we feared after our hike yesterday when, at higher elevations, nothing was in bloom.

Our best find of the day was a plant new to us: several blooming Madia sativa | coastal tarweed.
We were really pleased to find the long out-of-bloom Helianthella californica nevadensis | Nevada dwarf sunflower plants, that we found earlier this year.

There were hardly any bugs, especially at the start, when it was too cool for insects to be active.
The weather was perfect for a hike.

Temperature: 48-68, sunny, sometimes a light breeze.

Bloom: The last blooming plants, but certainly not bad


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October/16/2025 Santa Ysabel West (closed off area)

 It's drying up after the recent rain, creating ground fog.
This is some of the best Trichostema lanceolatum | vinegar weed bloom that we've seen here.
There are spectacular, large fields of Deinandra fasciculata | clustered tarweed, in bloom.

At higher elevations, not much is in bloom. We did find a lone Antirrhinum nuttallianum nuttallianum | Nuttall's snapdragon, in bloom.

As expected, it's greener along the creek.

Temperature: 52-72, sunny, sometimes a light breeze.

Bloom: Dry, some bloom at lower elevations


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October/15/2025 Arroyo Salado Loop

 Roadside things don't look that promising.
But on the hike, things certainly look better than expected. The plants are green, and there is plenty of grass (native).
Pectis papposa papposa, or chinchweed, dotted our entire loop.
There are many Krameria bicolor | White rhatany and Krameria erecta | Pima rhatany, in good bloom.

Larrea tridentata | creosote bush and Tiquilia palmeri | Palmer's crinklemat look very happy, with many blooming plants.
There were many Allionia incarnata incarnata | small-flowered trailing windmills, in abundance, and many were in very good bloom.

Best of all, we found blooming Euphorbia parishii | Parish's sandmat, which we rarely see.

Temperature: 64-75, sunny, sometimes a breeze.

Bloom: Not bad for the badlands


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October/13/2025 Cuyamaca Lake Trail

 We needed an easy hike today after yesterday's longer one.

It was very dry from the start; there was no water around the Trout Pond.
That was a good thing, though, as we found many Amaranthus californicus | California pigweed and Rorippa tenerrima | slender yellow cress where there would otherwise be water.

Our goal today was to find Potentilla norvegica | Rough Cinquefoil, and we think we found it.

We were happy to add two new plants to our San Diego list.

It was colder than expected, but sunny, though the clouds were closing in rapidly.

Temperature: 49-54, sunny, a light cold breeze.

Bloom: Low


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October/12/2025 Pena Springs - Hellhole Canyon Ridge

 The Bahiopsis parishii | Parish's goldeneye, is starting to bloom along the road and on our hike. Many are still in bud.
Many good-blooming Gutierrezia sarothrae | matchweed responded to the monsoonal rain.
There is a lot of Pectis papposa papposa | chinchweed, in bloom at the start of the trail and around the campground.

There are nice blooms of Mirabilis multiflora pubescens | giant four o'clock, which started closing after 9 a.m.

It's certainly the year of the Amaranthus fimbriatus | fringed amaranth; they are present throughout the entire loop.
We feared we wouldn't see any Senecio flaccidus monoensis | Mono groundsel, in bloom, but further on, we found some of the best-blooming plants we've seen here.
We were hoping to find the Amaranthus Torreyi | Torrey's amaranth, which we had never seen on this loop before. Now, there are hundreds, if not more.

Germination is good, with many Encelia actoni | Acton brittlebush, and Datura wrightii | Jimson weed.
There is an abundance of large-blooming Datura wrightii.

Another plant present in high numbers is the Euphorbia serpillifolia serpillifolia | thyme-leaf spurge.

There are also huge areas of blooming Kallstroemia parviflora | warty caltrop. I'm not sure if we've ever seen so many plants.

We finished the loop with one of our favorites, the blooming Erythranthe cardinalis | scarlet monkeyflower.

This is a strenuous hike with plenty of rocks, boulders, and shrubs—almost five hours of it!
Temperature: -80, sunny, no wind most of the time.

Bloom: Not bad


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October/11/2025 Middle Peak Loop

 We intended to turn east at Middle Peak.
However, the park is removing all the Ceanothus east of the fire road.
They are making quite a mess removing the shrubs. I'm not sure why they're still doing it, since the shrubs will grow back in no time.

So, we diverted west to make this loop.

It's extremely dry. There is some flowering at the start, and the best flowering is at the springs and seeps.
Unfortunately, where there is water, there are dense fields of non-native plants mixed with native ones.

Temperature: 68-75, mostly sunny, a light breeze at the highest point.

Bloom: Mostly low


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October/9/2025 North of Alma Wash

 A couple of weeks ago, Tom Chester told us that this was the best spot.
Today there was a change of rain.
The road close to the Ocotillo Wells Visitor Center was wet, and we could smell the desert on our hike.
The most surprising smell was from Petalonyx thurberi thurberi | Thurber's sandpaper plant, which had an undetermined sweet smell that we don't remember before.

The best spot is now mostly gone. The perennials look fresher than those in any other place we visited.
There are huge numbers of Bouteloua aristidoides aristidoides | needle grama and Boerhavia wrightii | Wright's spiderling.
Interestingly, the Boerhavia wrightii are really fresh, blooming, and in bud.

Strange-looking Ditaxis lanceolata | narrow-leaf ditaxis shows what happens when there is no grazing. no sheep or rabbits around.

We checked the small dry lake on the opposite side of the road. It was completely dry and rather barren.
Next, we wanted to drive through the desert and turn right (east) around the "Airport."
That was a bad idea after 0.1" of rain. I had to make a hard turn when we hit wet mud; that was not what we expected.

On another route, the San Felipe Wash was still partially wet at first.
Further on the wash was dry, and nothing happened on Buttes Pass Road. The plants looked really dry. We did see some blooming Pectis papposa papposa | chinch weed.

The Pectis papposa papposa | chinch weed, blooms were certainly the best in town, and there were lots of interesting non-native plants on our stop.


Temperature: 85-85, mostly sunny, hardly any wind.

Bloom: Mostly low


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October/8/2025 Big Laguna Trail South

 After our hot hike in Fossil Canyon, we wanted to do something cooler, like visit the Laguna Mountains.
Jon Rebman posted pictures of some plants that were new to us, so we went out to find them.

We found many surprisingly fresh and blooming Amaranthus californicus, or California pigweed.
Another plant we were looking for was the blooming Rorippa tenerrima, or slender yellow-cress.

We didn't want to hike the entire loop while going slow botanizing.
So, we took a shortcut towards Horse Heaven (camp).

Along the road, we found a non-native plant that we had been looking for some time. It's pretty.
Several good-blooming Lathyrus latifolius (broad-leafed sweet pea) plants.

We added at least five plants that are new to us in San Diego County.

Temperature: 65-75, sunny, hardly any wind.

Bloom: It looks dry. But the bloom is actually good for the time of year. There are dozens of different plants in bloom.


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October/7/2025 Fossil Canyon

 It's still dangerously warm, so we started the hike at 8 a.m.
Both gates were either gone or breached. There were lots of tire tracks and evidence of shooting in the canyon.

The goal was to find Echinocactus polycephalus polycephalus |cottontop cactus, in bloom, but our changes were zero.
Strangely enough, some of the plants seem to have bloomed recently, and rather well.

There is evidence of recent rainfall, such as blooming Fouquieria splendens splendens | ocotillo and Horsfordia newberryi | Newberry's velvet mallow with fresh fruit.
Best blooming plant, with a few flower on each plant: Bebbia juncea aspera | Sweetbush.
We found a single, strange-looking Euphorbia pediculifera | Carrizo Mountain spurge, in bloom.

When we arrived at the car, I noticed a large number of hitchhiking flies that terrorized us all the way home.

We also saw a second fox on the S3, probably because we were there just after 6 a.m.

Temperature: 75-91, sunny, hardly any wind.

Bloom: Bloom very low, 5 different plants in bloom.


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October/5/2025 The Potrero hill loop

 We hit the right spot this time—one of the best flower areas in the Anza-Borrego Desert.
While the smell of Pectis papposa papposa (chinch weed) is pleasant, it becomes almost too much after four hours and during the rest of the time at home.

The bloom was less than it was after the 2022 monsoonal rain.
The bloom has already passed its peak for most monsoon plants; others, like Krameria, are still mostly in bud.

Best finds: Freshly blooming Matelea parvifolia (spearleaf) and a vast field of brown Stillingia linearifolia (narrowleaf stillingia).
This might be the densest field of narrow-leaf stillingia that we know.
There is one blooming Cylindropuntia ganderi (Gander's cholla) and one in bud.
And not to forget the many Proboscidea althaeifolia (Devil's Claw), some of which are still in bloom.

Temperature: 63-85, sunny, hardly any wind.

Bloom: As good as it gets this time of year


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October/4/2025 Bisnaga east

 Past Vallecito, along the road, there are fields of Pectis papposa papposa, or chinchweed, leading to our trailhead.
Roadside, there are many plants in bloom, including the big and happy Proboscidea althaeifolia (Devil's Claw) plants.

However, the flower fields and happy plants diminish considerably after a couple of hundred meters.
Only happy plants once in a while.
To put things in context, this is one of the driest areas we know, so today's bloom might be our best yet.

Our goal was to find the Bursera microphylla, or elephant tree, in bloom, knowing that we were late after the monsoonal rains.
We hoped the higher elevation would help, and we found some aborted blooms on one plant.

There had been reports of nasty bugs, but luckily, we encountered hardly anything.

The best find of the day was the Antirrhinum filipes, or twining snapdragon skeleton, with fruit.
The second best find was our first ever sighting of a fox.

Best blooming plants:
Bouteloua aristidoides aristidoides | Needle grama,
Boerhavia wrightii | Wright's spiderling and Allionia incarnata incarnata | Small flowered trailing windmills

Note: We found an unusually high number of small ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens splendens).

A side tour of Blair Valley and Little Blair Valley was surprising; both dry lakes were almost barren with the exceptions of some Hoffmannseggia glauca | Hog potato.
There are some nice Pectis papposa papposa fields towards the homestead and pictograms.

Temperature: 60-82, sunny, light breeze.

Bloom: Best along the Vallecito Creek


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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.

Reports from previous seasons

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