2009 Anza-Borrego Wildflower Forecast

Ron Niebrugge Anza-Borrego, California, Travel 11 Comments

Desert Sand Verbena, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Desert Sand Verbena, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Well between Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and Vancouver – our last month has involved a lot of city photography.  The final couple of weeks of this trip will be based in Las Vegas – with all this city time, we had to make a few days and return to our favorite quiet little desert location;  Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

This did give us a good chance to see how the wildflowers are progressing, and to share my finding here.  In a word, it is shaping up to be a very good year for wildflowers!  I guess that is more then a word, but you get the idea.  If I had to pick one word, with due respect to Tony the Tiger, I would say they are going to be great!

We spent a month here last year beginning just about now, and it turned out to be a pretty good year.  This year, most places are much greener then even last year, and as you can see by the above photo from this morning, there are areas already beginning to bloom.  But don’t take my word for it, according to the Borrego Sun, naturalist Paul Johnson is predicting this years bloom to be better then last with the peak hitting around the end of the month of February.  In addition, the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park website is predicting a “good to excellent bloom in the near future”.

We arrived here on Sunday just in time for another inch of rain – this most recent storm should help extend the season.  We have commitments in Vegas, but I gotta admit, it is going to be really tough to not be here for this years peak.  I may have to grab my tent and sneak back over here for a night!

The above photo was captured with a 100 mm macro lens.  I added a 25 mm extension tube which allowed me to focus and move even closer to the small flowers.  I then parked my truck in such a way to shade the flowers, and used a gold reflector to add a touch of warm light – not unlike what you might find at sunrise, although this was a couple hours after first light.

Comments 11

  1. The reflector was a nice touch! Thanks for the update too. If I don’t get there at peak, I should at least be close.

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    Author

    Thanks John!

    Hi Richard. Yeah, I was surprised as well. I did a little more checking, and as you know, most of Southern California is below normal, but there are some places above normal including Palm Springs, Las Vegas and Laughlin. Laughlin has received 269% of there normal year to date precipitation at this point, so that could be a great little area. Even Death Valley is running a bit over average.

    Ron

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    Author

    Hey thanks Michael.

    Funny, I almost began this post by saying I’m no Michael Brown, but here is my attempt at flower close-up!

    Thanks,

    Ron

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  5. Pingback: Photography Links - February 13, 2009 « Photo Notes: Photography by Patty Hankins and Bill Lawrence

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