WILDFLOWERS BUST OUT IN EPIC SUPER BLOOM AFTER DROUGHT ENDS

We love explosions of flowers! So when the Anza-Borrego Desert, in southern California erupted in color this spring, when a super-bumper crop of wildflowers pushed up through the arid earth.

Purple sand verbena, white dune evening primroses, orange California poppies and other wildflowers abound.

 This kind of epic super bloom occurs about once every 10 years.

The unusually wet winter, with heavy persistent rain following a 5-year drought covered much of the 630,000-acre Anza-Borrego State Park with dazzling living carpets.

Wildflower seeds that had been dormant for years sprouted, as if by magic.

 A similarly explosive super bloom happened last year in Death Valley.

The color bursts change with time as different species bloom at different elevations and in different areas. Hundreds of species of flowers, including desert lilies, blazing stars, and spiny Ocotillo.

With the explosion of blossoms came the explosion of hungry sphinx moth caterpillars, which in turn attracted a Swainson’s hawk population explosion, as droves flew 6,000 miles, up from Argentina, to feast.

The Carrizo Plain, in California’s southern Central Valley had it’s own super bloom explosion. As the largest grassland in California, (approx. 50 miles (80 km) long and up to 15 miles (24 km) across) it was sprawling with lupine, poppies, fiddleneck, and baby blue eyes.

The Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve gleams with massive spreads of golden orange poppies.

Read more about Beautiful Bursts & Fireworks in Visit the 10 Biggest, Most Beautiful Fireworks in the World and Flowers Become Fireworks! Beauty Explodes!

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Bob Wick, of Bureau of Land Management California. “Carrizo Plain National Monument.” Carrizo Plain National Monument, CA.
2. Image: by Bob Wick, of Bureau of Land Management California. “Super Bloom 2017 at Carrizo Plain National Monument.” Carrizo Plain National Monument, CA.
3. Image: by zandtrick. Anza Borrego at sunrise blooming with purple. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, CA.
4. Image: by Hamed Asgari. Super Bloom 2017 at Carrizo Plain National Monument.” Carrizo Plain National Monument, CA.
5. Image: by Bob Wick, of Bureau of Land Management California. “Super Bloom 2017 at Carrizo Plain National Monument.” Carrizo Plain National Monument, CA.
6. Image: by Bob Wick, of Bureau of Land Management California. “Super Bloom 2017 at Carrizo Plain National Monument.” Carrizo Plain National Monument, CA.
7. Image: by nuggetron. “Wonder what Sam's perspective on the super bloom is?” Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, CA.
8. Image: by Tom Hilton. “Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.” Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, CA.
9. Image: by Rob Bertholf. “Desert Wildflower Super Bloom.” Diamond Valley Lake, CA.
10. Image: by BN App - Download now!
11. Image: by Rob Bertholf. “Desert Wildflower Super Bloom.” Diamond Valley Lake, CA.