All Bloomed Out
Last updated 5/6/2019 at 9:40am
Garett Wood
Yes, the flower bloom may be over, but the sculpture has arrived. The above sculptures by local artist/sculptor John Richen are part of an eight-sculpture series in bronze titled, "Earth Fragments." These were inspired from patterns in the cliffs, sand, rocks, and cacti around Borrego. The sculptures are about 10-feet tall, weighing 125 pounds each. They were recently sold as a set to an anonymous buyer from Borrego.
The anticipated Superbloom of 2019 was as super as expected, and the sound you hear now is the community sigh of relief as things return to a more normal pace.
The wildflowers are gone.
Or are they?
Yes, the traffic jams from windshield wildflower watchers, the WWW's, are gone, you can actually get a seat at a local restaurant, and still there are plenty of wildflowers to enjoy.
Let's call this the season of the Secret Garden. Gone are the vast fields of desert sunflowers, sand verbena and dune primrose that could easily be enjoyed from the car window as you explored Borrego's backroads.
Those attracted the crowds and brought good business to Borrego Springs. The community was prepared this year and visitors left happy, hopefully to return again.
Two years ago, the Super Bloom was confined to Borrego Springs locales, and it drew an overwhelming crush of visitors over two weekends. This year, the blooms began eastward of Borrego and were spread out in both time and geography from Ocotillo Wells to the Badlands, at Lake Elsinore, and here along the traditional DiGiorgio Road locales, so visitors had many choices.
Also, community-wide planning on things like traffic and sanitation worked out well. So, visitors saw what they came to see, and now are gone.
Now, hikers who enjoy solitude and covering a few miles of desert can discover some of the late bloomers. Generally, these will not be clusters of flowers, but rather small, secret gardens discovered while wandering around.
As temperatures grow, the smart late spring flower hunter will be out early, have a good hat, sturdy boots and plenty of water.
The nice thing about the desert is you don't have to be confined to a trail. You can wander a wash and let gravity pull you along. You can head out across open country and let terrain and curiosity be your magnetic compass.
And what are you likely to find?
Cacti are traditionally late bloomers, and April is a good time to see them in the Anza-Borrego Desert. The almost neon magenta of the beavertail cactus, the yellow-green blossoms of cholla, or the yellowish crown of flowers on barrel cactus are just starting to emerge.
With a keen eye, look for the delicate white flowers of the tiny fishhook cactus tucked into rocky hillsides along the edge of desert washes.
You might smell the fragrant perfume of the indigo bush long before you see the deep purple flowers that resemble small sweetpeas.
The tall stocks of agave are now showing beautiful clusters of yellow blossoms and in many areas the bright red, waxy flowers of the Ocotillo are emerging.
At press time, there were still good displays of purple phacelia coloring the shoulder of the road along S-2 in the southern part of the park.
Heading up Montezuma Grade, the happy brittlebush continues to put on a good show, and a few Parish's poppies still dance in the spring breeze.
At upper elevations around Culp Valley there are yellow fiddlenecks blossoms. These are popular with both Lesser and Lawrence's goldfinch. A subtle purple haze in the green grass are the tiny flowers of filaree.
As days get warmer the palo verde trees will erupt with bright yellow flowers, and the desert willow will sport delicate white to purple blossoms.
This is a special time for desert lovers. Temperatures are still mild, crowds are gone, the brilliance of the night sky is coming alive with the Milky Way and there are secret gardens to be discovered.
