In Bloom
Outdoor enthusiasts can catch the best glimpse of wildflowers at Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Death Valley National Park in the next few weeks.
Plants blooming at Lake Mead:
Arizona lupine (violet)
Death Valley phacelia (light blue)
Sundrops (yellow)
Brittle bush (yellow)
Brown-eyed primroses (brown center, white petal)
Globemallow (red)
Dune primrose (white)
Sand-verbena (violet)
Desert goldpoppy (yellow)
Notch-leafed phacelia (yellow)
Wildflowers blooming in Death Valley:
Desert star
Blazing star
Desert goldpoppy
Mimulus
Encelia
Verbena
The Lake Mead National Recreation Area Web site is:
www.nps.gov/lame/flowers.html/
The Web address for flowers in Death Valley National Park is:
www.nps.gov/deva/FrameSet-Wildflower.htm
Source: The National Park Service
With record-breaking rain showers this winter, wildflowers are painting the normally beige sands of Southern Nevada's deserts in waves of yellow, purple and red.
Drab brown hillsides have turned a bright spring green from growing grasses.
For those asking for the best time to stop and smell the flowers, plant experts say any time from now through June will offer a spectacular view almost anywhere in Southern Nevada.
Longtime residents of Las Vegas remember a great flowering of wild blossoms in 1973. Another good wildflower season came along in the early 1980s, said Christina Gibson, Clark County management analyst.
"But this year is expected to be the most productive for the largest array of native flora that we've had in 70 years or more," Gibson said.
Two categories of desert plants -- winter annuals and spring annuals -- bloom in the Las Vegas area.
Winter annuals sprang to life following rainfall received in October and November. They tend to be grasses and tiny plants that hug the ground.
For plants growing below 3,000 feet in elevation, the spring annuals are starting to bloom along Lake Mead and nearby streams and rivers.
After rains in January and February, the spring annuals are budding near Lake Mead, where the peak blooms are expected through mid-March, National Park Service spokeswoman Roxanne Dey said.
Areas where wildflowers are particularly eye-catching are along Lakeshore and Northshore scenic drives, the main roads in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Dey said. Motorists can enter the area from Interstate 15 northeast of Las Vegas and drive through Valley of Fire or take U.S. 95 to Lake Mead Drive southeast of Las Vegas.
The Railroad Tunnel Trail at the lake also offers an easy hike and spectacular views of the blooms, Dey said.
The southern end of Lake Mead near Cottonwood Cove and Nelson Landing bloomed early and is still a virtual carpet of desert goldpoppy, sun cups, bright purple Notch-leaf phacelia, violet Arizona lupine and the white to yellow blossoms of brittlebush, Dey said.
"We expected the peak of the bloom the last part of February into early March," but more flowers keep opening every day, park service botanist Elizabeth Powell said.
"Stuff seems to be staggered rather than blooming all together," Powell said after a field trip around the lake on Thursday.
Pincushions, desert dandelions and daisies are all flowering in lower areas of the lake.
Blazing star plants are also showing their white blossoms, Powell said. Later in the spring beavertail cacti will put on a show, she said.
Common phacelia carpet the desert with pale blue flowers in the Newbury Mountains near Grapevine Canyon, 90 miles south of Las Vegas, off U.S. 95 on the road past Searchlight.
"Just about anywhere you go, you're going to see something," Powell said.
Higher elevation plants are expected to begin blooming later in March.
In Red Rock Canyon the wildflowers have barely started blooming, Athena Sparks, lead naturalist for the Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Association, said.
That's because Red Rock Canyon, west of Las Vegas, is 3,000 feet above the lake's elevation.
A native desert orchid could begin blooming along Red Rock's creeks and springs in late March or during April, she said.
Once Southern Nevada warms up, wildflowers such as the dune primrose and the desert marigold will blossom. So far, though, Red Rock has not had a series of days with temperatures above 60 degrees, Sparks said.
Wildflowers on Mount Charleston are not expected to bloom until summer months. The Spring Mountains are still snow-covered.
But there's no need for wildflower fans to wait. The flora is fantastic now at Lake Mead, the Valley of Fire and Death Valley National Park and will continue to be for some time, Powell said.
"Whether visitors come tomorrow or two weeks from now, it is going to be spectacular ," said Terry Baldino, a National Park Service naturalist at Death Valley National Park. "They are fabulous this year."
Death Valley is a land of extremes. It is one of the hottest places on Earth with summer temperatures staying well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It also claims the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level, a place called Badwater Basin.
Those driving from Southern Nevada to Death Valley can take U.S. 95 northwest and enter the park from the Lathrop Wells turnoff.
A 30-mile section of California Highway 190 between Furnace Creek and Death Valley Junction is still closed because of severe flood damage, but the rest of the scenic roads are open.
While Death Valley blossoms began opening in February, cacti will open probably in April and May, Baldino said.
"They are just starting to explode," Baldino said after returning from a viewing late Thursday.
Wherever wildflower observers go to get their fix of flora, they need to remember to stay on designated roads and trails to avoid damaging the rare and delicate flowering plants, Gibson said.
Staying on roads and trails will also help prevent dust clouds this spring. Dust clouds are caused by people breaking the desert's crust, a natural surface that discourages particles from becoming airborne.
"Leave the desert as you find it," Gibson said. "Don't take plants, rocks, soil or artifacts from the desert."
And watch out for rattlesnakes, scorpions or Gila monsters roaming the desert once temperatures warm, Gibson added.
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