Wildflower Information

The evolution of the colorful and delicate Mexican gold poppy in Arizona starts with fall bi-weekly rains, which triggers the little green plants to sprout. These small seedlings thrive on moisture through winter's cool weather and short days of sun. By mid-February and early March, the daylight hours warm the plants and the sun causes the seedlings to suddenly shoot up and bloom. As the weather gets hotter, usually by April, the blossoms dry up and die.

The lavish array of flowers become thicker when the weather gets warmer in mid March and the temperature rises to around 70 degrees. But it is the heavy rain and warmer temperatures that may create a good bouquet earlier than usual, so the public should keep in touch with State Parks regularly so they don't miss the peak of the bloom.

As of February 1, the desert is a bright green blanket of growth, but as it warms through the month, the flowers absorb the sun's rays and poppies will bloom in vast arrays of yellow fields. The purple Coulter's lupine, yellow brittlebush, yellow creosote and orange globemallow add to the radiant displays of wildflowers that bring visitors from around the country to the wide open spaces of Arizona. Recreational vehicles pour in from around the country and viewing at Picacho Peak State Park offers the space you need for uninhibited photographs of the fields of flowers.

One of the best hiking trails in the state for the Mexican gold poppies and other wildflowers is the "Crosscut Trail" at Lost Dutchman State Park. The green desert floor there now shows a great potential for good wildflower bloom. At this park, it will require a short walk to see the flowers up close or take flower pictures n the Superstition Mountains. Lost Dutchman State Park's surrounding desert vegetation also includes yellow brittlebush, purple lupine and the red chuparosa creating a kaleidoscope of colors.

At Alamo Lake State Park, the water above the dam has been substantial; raising the lake more than 80 feet and soaking the surrounding desert. The orange globemallow and purple lupine are already starting to dot the landscape that surrounds these desert lowlands west of Wickenburg. Alamo Lake, a popular fishing and camping destination, is one of Arizona's largest lakes. The remote region surrounding the park, offers hikers many miles of pristine desert hiking, wildflower views, trails, and birding opportunities.

Just North of Tucson, Catalina State Park and Oracle State Park offer a vast variety of wildflowers, and the best way to view them is to walk up into the foothills. At the Visitor Center at Catalina there are plant lists of flowers, trees and shrubs that are common in the Catalina foothills. The "50-year Trail" is popular at Catalina for wildflower walks and the stables near the campground make the area more accessible by horseback for those traveling with horses.

Another great destination to see wildflowers and use ADA accessible trails is Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park. The one-hour drive from Phoenix east toward Globe on highwayt 60 is a great day trip and usually on the way out there you'll see Silly Mountain covered with Mexican gold poppies, purple lupines, and yellow brittlebush. Gonzales Pass, at mile marker 218, can have vivid purple fairy duster and fire-engine red ocotillo blossoms. Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park is among the best places in Arizona to learn your wildflowers because staff place signs near many viaretals -- and guided tours at 1:00 p.m. daily offer the chance to learn common wildflowers from Arizona State Parks volunteers. Some years Picket Post Mountain and Apache Leap can be carpeted with Mexican gold poppies and Arboretum gardens are a prime spot to find Parry's Penstemon, covena, white-flowered Four O'Clock, peppergrass and dozens more species. Boyce Thompson Arboretum horticulturists are already reporting fragrant berberis shrubs in bloom, and native species such as jojoba and Mormon tea are loaded with blossoms.

You can watch a three-minute film clip showing 2005 wildflower highlights from around the trails at Boyce Thompson Arboretum, by downloading the movie file. (8.7 MB WMV)

The public is encouraged to tour State Parks on weekdays when there is less traffic and there is plenty of parking. The poppies are not really blooming yet and if it stays cool they may not bloom until the middle of February or early March.

Wildflower books are available with brochures and maps in rural areas at all of the State Parks. The "State Trails Guide" with 550 hiking trails is also available at all of the State Parks.

For details on different areas around the state, call the State Parks Wildflower Hotline (8am-5pm weekdays) at (602) 542-4988 or watch" Ranger Cam" next week with pictures taken regularly at www.azstateparks.com

Tips for Viewing Wildflowers

1. Research the areas you will be going before you leave to be sure the elevation is where the flowers are blooming. Different flowers bloom at different temperature and soil conditions. Flowers in sand dunes are much different than those in the mountains. Arizona Highways Magazine has an excellent "Desert Wildflower" book. This book also tells the rainfall patterns and temperatures that affect wildflower blooms.
2. Bring plenty of water and a picnic lunch.
3. Bring a camera and lots of film. A magnifying glass will let you see the flowers up close.
4. Don't touch or pick flowers, buds or seed plants. Don't step on the green plants.
5. Be in the desert on a sunny day between 10-3:00 if you want to see poppies when they are open and the most beautiful. On cold or windy the flowers will close.
6. Don't stop on the freeway or park on the side of roads to take pictures.
7. Never touch any type of cactus. The tiny spines you can't see embed themselves in your skin.
8. Watch for the wildflower pollinators: bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, ants, bats, and beetles.
9. People with allergies should be aware that the pollen could cause an allergic reaction.
10. Globemallow are pretty but also called "sore-eye poppies" because if you touch your eyes after touching the flower the star shaped hairs will irritate your eyes.

Rules & Regulations about Native Plants

The Native Plant laws that protect plants everywhere in Arizona require that you not harm the plants. This includes digging them up, shooting them, stealing skeletons, collecting the seeds or picking the flowers. About 30 different plants and almost all cacti are on the Native Plant protected lists. There are civil penalties and fines ranging up to $2500 and 6 months in jail for violating these laws. In State and National Parks the laws are even more specific. You can't collect plants, harm plants or animals, pick up any type of plant skeletons, collect wood, or pick up archaeological or historical objects or even take rocks from the Parks.

State Parks with Wildflower Viewing

Picacho Peak State Park

CONTACT: (520) 466-3183
WHERE: Take I-10 South toward Tucson about l/2 way between Tucson and Phx.
take Exit 219.
SIZE: 3,703-acre State Park.
ELEVATION: 2,000 feet. Elevation at top of Picacho Peak 3374 feet. The 1,500-foot mountain peak has been a landmark used by travelers across the desert for hundreds of years. It is actually an eroded, resistant lava flow that began 22 million years ago. This is an excellent way to see wildflowers because you can drive through the State Park and not even get out if you don't want to hike or walk the trails. The Mexican gold poppies and other wild flowers are visible from the road inside the park and along ditches all around the park as they blanket the side of the mountain.

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Lost Dutchman State Park

CONTACT: (480) 982-4485
WHERE: Outskirts of Phoenix near the Superstition Mountains- 5 miles East of Apache Jct.
SIZE: 320-acre State Park ELEVATION: 2,000-foot elevation. Superstition Mountains rise to 5,000 feet on hiking trails from the Park with flowers changing as you gain elevation.
WILDFLOWER WALKS: Check with park on days and times. Mexican Gold Poppies -- Yellow patches...lupine and blue dicks are making a purple haze across the Superstition Mountains Blooming: Coulter's Lupine (purple), Papago Lilies (blue dicks), Mexican Gold Poppies, Chuparosa (red), Filaree (purple & profuse), Brittlebush, Globemallow, Penstemmon

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Catalina State Park

CONTACT: (520) 628-5798
WHERE: North of Tucson downtown 14 miles in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains. This is a flood plain area that is quite wet compared to Parks such as Picacho Peak State Park.
SIZE: 5,511-acre State Park
ELEVATION: 3,000 feet. Catalina Mtns. rise to 9,000 feet.
Catalina State Park is not known for the amazing abundance of flowers but for a variety of wildflowers.   More than 300 flowers are catalogued there at that park and these books can be accessed by the public. In 1998, 40 new flower species were identified. The new flowers identified were rock jasmine (small white flower), pygmy weed (red), red maids. There are more than 60 grasses identified at Catalina. There are acres of Mexican gold poppies, Coulter's lupine; yellow rocket (mustards) and fiddleneck (yellow) fill the park. The desert chicory creates thick white areas among the blue lupine and purple owl clover.   The deep purple chia (mint family) form acres and acres of purple fields. These profuse blooms were first seen in 1998. The pinkish low-growing fillaree usually covers the entire entrance roadway to the Park. Other flowers are the creamcups (creamy color), globemallow (orange), owl clover (purple), wooly daisies (tiny white sunflowers), Penstemmon, desert phlox, silver puffs! (yellow), toad flax (light blue). In a binder in the Visitor Center there is a picture of each flower in the Park, the common name, when it blooms and where they are found. These are sorted by color so if you find a flower in the park it can be identified.

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Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park

CONTACT: (520) 689-2811
WHERE: highway 60 milepost #223, about one hour east of Phoenix.
WILDFLOWER WALKS: Check with the park for information about flowers and daily guided walking tours of the main trail at 1:00 p.m.
SIZE: This is a great destination as the drive out to the park along the road is stunning and many of the trails are ADA accessible. (323-acre State Park at 2400 feet elevation. Picket Post Mountain rises another 2,000 feet). For details on this park's blooms visit the expanded website.

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   Download Boyce Thompson Arboretum Wildflower movie file > (8.7 MB WMV)

Oracle State Park

CONTACT: (520) 896-2425
WHERE: 40 miles north of Tucson off Hwy 77 through the town of Oracle, in the northern foothills of the Santa Catalina Mts.
SIZE: 4,000 acre wildlife refuge; park elevation 4600-3700 feet; oak-woodland with granite boulder piles transitions to oak grassland; 15 miles of interconnecting loop trails meander between ridges and dry washes.
WILDFLOWER WALKS: Oracle State Park grasslands come alive with a variety of blooms in March and April. More than 40 species have been identified, including white and orange Mariposa lilies, purple heliotrope, blue dicks and bajada lupine; also crimson Four o'clocks, lavender larkspurs, yellow evening primrose and desert marigolds. The ceanothus bush, or wild lilac, is also expected to be covered in white fragrant flowers this spring, along with a variety of colorful Penstemmon, just to name a few. Visitors will appreciate the wildflower photo album and plant pressings along with plant lists available in the park office.

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Alamo Lake State Park

CONTACT: (928) 669-2088
WHERE: 38 miles north of Wenden and US 60; west of Wickenburg.
SIZE: A stunning 2400-acre lake tucked down in the bill Williams River Valley west of Phoenix.
ELEVATION: 1300 feet
The orange globemallow and purple lupine have just started to bloom. Alamo Lake is a popular fishing and camping destination and one of Arizona's largest lakes. The park offers hikers many miles of pristine desert hiking, wildflower views, trails, and birding opportunities.

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