Explore the California Desert in the spring and early summer when splashy displays of wildflowers paint the landscape. Each year is uniquely different, characteristic of both the timing and amount of rain from winter storms and the temperature fluctuations that accompany them. Warm days following plenty of rain and the yellow desert dandelions and brown-eyed primrose are popping-up on street corners, vacant lots, medians, and roadsides.

In a good year, the high desert is blessed with rain in many areas surrounding Twentynine Palms, including occasional winter snow. The winter rains—regular, gentle, and soaking—provide the deep soil moisture, which, combined with the warmth of spring, makes for ideal wildflowers. 

Throughout the area, the early yellow-flowering shrubs, bladderpod and encelia or brittlebush, can begin blooming as early as February or March. Continuing the yellow theme, the annuals like yellow cups, fiddlenecks, coreopsis, and poppies, along with some purple lupine and chia, become roadside attractions in March and April. 

Five different varieties of the showy evening primroses follow, including the brilliant white dune primrose. Local naturalist, Pat Flanagan, reports that the dunes in the wilderness area east of Twentynine Palms can offer spectacular displays with acres of sand verbena and evening primroses dazzling the eye and scenting the air. 

The many varieties of cacti, including the chollas, barrel cactus, beavertail cactus, and prickly pear, will bloom throughout the spring and early summer, starting with the barrels in the lower elevation canyons. If favorable weather continues, yucca and the joshua tree should experience their flowering season starting in late March, although they don't bloom every year.

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Bill Truesdell, biologist and former Chief of Interpretation for Joshua Tree National Park, tells visitors to look for the emergence of the famed desert lily near the Cottonwood area of the Park in the spring. These stately white-flowering plants do not bloom every year, hiding their secrets until the desert receives optimal conditions. Joshua Tree National Park has 700 species of vascular plants found in its many different habitats and plant associations. Some are unique to the Mojave Desert. 

Flower enthusiasts have options each year, depending on the timing and quality of the season. Joshua Tree National Park often colors up before you reach the entrance kiosk on Utah Trail. Park at the pull-out near the kiosk, walk west to the ridge, and you may see blue phacelia crowding the creosote bushes, yellow fiddlenecks and gold cups unfolding, coreopsis and dandelions filling in the blanks. Look in the sandy washes for pink nama and Bigelow’s monkeyflower; they are worth getting down on your knees for a closer look. Also flat on the ground, in areas of rocky pavement, multiple constellations of desert star dazzle the eye. The south facing slopes are often covered with gold cups. 

Continue on up and over the spine of Joshua Tree National Park driving toward the Cottonwood Station. Once over the top, flowers can appear along the way, with a solid carpet of dandelions and occaisonal blue lupine a few miles south of the ranger station. Washes are always worth checking out, upstream and downstream, for more species of flowers and the critters that eat, pollinate, or use their shade for rest and concealment.

Conspicuous shrubs along the road are bladder pod with yellow flowers and hanging pods, brittlebush crowned with yellow sunflowers, and chuparosa with red tubular hummingbird flowers. As the ocotillos begin greening up, look for flowering red blooms.

Wondering about that vine you keep seeing growing all over its neighbors? That’s Brandegea, not an easy name to remember, but the story’s good. The plant is named in honor of Townsend and Mary Katherine Brandegee, both botanists, who, in the late 1800s spent their honeymoon hiking from San Diego to San Francisco collecting flowers along the way.

For a different scene, drive east of the Twentynine Palms for 23 miles to Ironage Road, turn left and drive for another 2 miles or so. The Sheephole Mountains are on your right and Dale Dry Lake on your left. On the left side of the road the large white flowers of the dune primrose cover the sand. Keep your eye on this area throughout the season. As the flower area expands, the sand verbena will become common, and we may have one of the banner years that leave a lifetime mark in your memory. Look closely and you’ll see many different species of plants growing.

Twentynine Palms, California, is a desert outback community. Located 2 ½ hours east of Los Angeles, it is bordered on the south by Joshua Tree National Park and to the east by more than 100 miles of wilderness with rugged mountains, sand dunes, and playas. It is a gateway to many different desert environments with elevations ranging from below 1,000 feet where the blooms come early, to over 5,000 feet where flowering continues through July and even into early winter. 

At the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center you can pick up a wildflower brochure. Excellent books and maps are also available. Free community maps and visitor information are available at the Twentynine Palms Chamber of Commerce. Call the Chamber at (760)367-3445 for travel and additional information.