Wildflowers

 
carpet of yellow flowers cover the valley floor with mountains in the background
The wildflower "super-bloom" of 2016 was a rare event for Death Valley that occurs only when conditions are perfect.

Kurt Moses

 
yellow and pink flowers growing abundantly
Desert gold and sand verbena bloom on the valley floor.

NPS / Kurt Moses

Predicting a Good Bloom Year

A good wildflower year depends on at least three things: Well-spaced rainfall throughout the fall, winter, and spring, sufficient warmth from the sun and lack of drying winds.

Rain is Key
Gentle rain that soaks deeply into the soil is essential for a desert floral display. To begin, a rainstorm of a half inch or more is needed to wash the protective coating off wildflower seeds and allow them to sprout. For plants to continue growing, rainstorms must come at evenly-spaced intervals throughout the winter and spring. The best blooms are triggered by an early, winter-type rainstorm in September or October, followed by an El Niño weather pattern that brings above average rainfall to the Desert Southwest.

Warming Things Up
Wildflower seeds that sprout with cool winter storms often remain small and low to the ground until the springtime sun starts to warm the soil. They may not look like they are growing, but a strong root system is developing below the surface. As the temperatures get warmer, the well established plants then put on a growth spurt and start to bloom.

Harsh Desert Wind
Frequent springtime windstorms without additional rain can bring about a quick end to the spring bloom or even prevent it from happening by killing off delicate sprouts. Dry, moving air dehydrates exposed surfaces of all living things, including human beings. Desert plants often have waxy, hairy, or spiny leaves to baffle the wind and retain precious moisture. Humans can carry and drink water as needed, but the wildflowers must grow and bloom before they dry out, or late-spring heat arrives, in order to leave seeds scattered on the desert floor to produce the next generation.

Superblooms
Death Valley is famous for its spectacular, spring wildflower displays, but those are the exception, not the rule. Only under perfect conditions does the desert fill with a sea of gold, purple, pink or white flowers. These tend to average once a decade, with the most recent superbloom years being 2016, 2005, and 1998. Although there are years where blossoms are few, they are never totally absent.

 
  • Superbloom!

    Superbloom!

    Take a look at spectacular wildflowers during a rare superbloom in 2016.

    Duration:
    2 minutes, 57 seconds
 
 
A variety of desert flowers that are purple, white, orange, pink, and yellow
Wildflowers left to right: weakstem mariposa lily, desert gold, bear poppy, mariposa lily, desert chicory, desert five-spot, desert dandelion, and lilac sunbonnet.
 

Typical Bloom Windows

In Death Valley National park, most of the showy desert wildflowers are annuals, also referred to as ephemerals because they are short-lived. Oddly enough, this limited lifespan ensures survival here. Rather than struggle to stay alive during the desert’s most extreme conditions, annual wildflowers lie dormant as seeds. When enough rain finally does fall, the seeds quickly sprout, grow, bloom and go back to seed again before the dryness and heat returns. By blooming enmasse during good years, wildflowers can attract large numbers of pollinators such as butterflies, moths, bees and hummingbirds that might not otherwise visit Death Valley.

 

 

Past Wildflower Seasons

 

Contact Info

Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 579
Death Valley, CA 92328

Phone:

760 786-3200

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