One day it’s the desert. The next day it’s a rainbow-colored bed of flowers stretching on for miles. It’s called a SuperBloom, and it happens when torrential rain meets a generous layer of dormant seeds. It’s rare: there can be years between SuperBlooms in some places. We don’t know yet if Spring 2021 will be a SuperBloom year (follow #trackthebloom for updates from now through May), but they do happen, here’s where they will probably be:
Sonoran Desert, Arizona
Time to Visit: March–April SuperBlooms don’t come often to the Sonoran Desert — once about a decade — but when they do, they are a true spectacle. Visitors lucky enough to catch one of these rare events may see the vivid purple blooms of lupines, the yellows of Mexican poppies, and the oranges of apricot mallows. For those with an interest in history as well as blooms, the nearby Juan Bautista De Anza National Historic Trail offers hikes and history lessons about Native American and Spanish settlements in the region.
Carrizo Plain National Monument, California
Time to Visit: March–April In the Spring, these vast grasslands light up with blooms. Flower seekers can expect to find waves of daisies, goldfields, and blue valley phacelia coloring sloping hills that stretch along the base of the Temblor mountains. This plant-painted paradise is also home to the highest concentration of threatened and endangered wildlife in California. Visitors to the region may catch a glimpse of such rare critters as the San Joaquin kit fox, the blunt-nosed leopard lizard, and the giant kangaroo rat.
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Related: Artist Jeff Scher’s SuperBlooms Animation
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Antelope Valley, California
Time to visit: February–April At the western tip of the Mojave desert a vibrant sea of orange — the largest and most dependable bloom of California’s state flower, the California Poppy — will greet flower enthusiasts. Visitors to the area can also take in several other wildflower species, including the owl’s clover, lupine, goldfields, cream cups, and coreopsis.
San Felipe, Mexico
Time to visit: February–March Residing in the Valle de los Gigantes (The Valley of the Giants), this Baja beach town most recently saw a SuperBloom in 2019, when a sea of purple wildflowers swept across the area’s saguaro-dotted landscape. The bloom eventually crept its way into the deserts of California, but it started in San Felipe. Flower-finders who want to experience some of San Felipe’s other attractions can check out the hot springs or take advantage of the area’s ATV and dirt-biking trails.
Death Valley, California
Time to visit: March–April Don’t let the morbid name fool you, this park has no shortage of flowering plant life to fawn over. The scorching summers are what has earned Death Valley its moniker, but the brief bursts of spring-time rain are what visitors hoping to see a wildflower bloom should be interested in. These showers can trigger an outbursts of desert marigolds, Eureka Dunes evening primroses, and wavyleaf desert paintbrushes that dot the mountain-rimmed region with splashes of vibrant color.
Atacama Desert, Chile
Time to Visit: September–November The Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar place on Earth. So, it’s no surprise that big blooms here are rare (every 5 to 7 years). But when the rains do arrive, visitors to this region are treated to the interweaving of yellow and purple Pata de Guanaco flowers dancing across the often barren landscape. If the beauty below wasn’t enough, the desert’s lack of light pollution and high altitude make it an ideal place to take in the starry night sky.
