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Photos: Wildflower Super Bloom Explodes Across The Anza-Borrego Desert
After years of drought, the record rains of the past few months have set the stage for an incredible wildflower bloom across Southern California. Once brown hills are awash in vibrant color, and nowhere is the effect more pronounced than in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Purple sand verbena flowers, yellow brittlebrush, California lupins and white desert lilies are among the flowers currently (or soon to be) carpeting the desert, as Ernie Cowan, president of the Anza-Borrego Foundation, told LAist earlier this month.
"We really haven't had this kind of a bloom since 2005. The desert has really come alive," Kathy DeMunck, an assistant manager at the desert's nature center, told National Geographic. According to the park's visitor center, the record blooms also meant record traffic entering the park, and they expect next weekend to be similar—so if you can swing it, we highly recommend making your visit on a weekday.
The Anza-Borrego bloom is expected to peak in mid-March (a.k.a. now!) and last until the end of the month. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is located off Highway 78 in Borrego Springs. It’s about a two-hour-and-forty-minute trip from L.A. If you can't make it all the way out there, there are a number of other near-ish locations to see wildflowers abloom, including Point Mugu State Park in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Zach Behrens, a senior communications fellow for the Santa Monica Mountains, told LAist that visitors headed to Point Mugu should try and make it there this week, because the bloom might not last through the weekend (it all depends on how hot it gets this week). Behrens recommended taking Chumash Trail and Point Mugu Loop at the park to get a good view.
Do you have photos from this month's wildflower superbloom that you'd like to share? Send them to tips@laist.com with "superbloom" in the subject line!
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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