Well, this and the warmth are what we came to SoCal for. We were too early at Joshua Tree NP–it was 32 degrees at night and only the Canterbury Bells, beautiful blue blossoms, and rare, were blooming here and there. So we eased on south to lower elevations and camped under two orange trees in the Imperial Valley, which provided shade, delicious fruit snacks, OJ, and the intoxicating aroma of orange blossoms, I don’t know any other fruit tree that has blossoms at the same time as its ripening fruit. Orange blossoms are my favorite aroma, just above new mown alfalfa hay and blooming lilacs.
Friday we struck gold in Anza Borrego State Park, California’s largest, just west of the Salton Sea and stretching within two miles of the Mexican border, where the wildflower blooms are peaking. They say it isn’t the best year ever, but it sure looked good to us. The following pictures were taken along Hellhole Canyon Trail. I think that refers to the 120 degree summer temps in this canyon. It was a delightful 50 degree less than that when we were there.
The desert is a desolate place most of the year, but when springtime comes the Master Artist creates a divine work of art, a visual smorgasbord of His glory that sends the spirits soaring. Over the last two centuries miners have dotted the desert with holes dug in solid rock, back-breaking work to accumulate a ton of rocks to be crushed and processed with chemicals, all for the fleeting enjoyment of perhaps an ounce of gold. We got to enjoy a whole desert full of gold, and every other color and variation, just for showing up. What a spectacularly vivid reminder that we, as children of the God of Creation, are heirs to an eternal joy that no one can take away.
These are a small sample of the desert flowers we saw, some no bigger than half a shirt button.
Desert Dandelion and Fremont Pincushion
Blooming Teddy Bear Cholla. Looks cuddly, but if you pet it you’ll be picking spines out of your hands the rest of the day.
Chuparosa, a hummingbird favorite. They get their beaks all the way to the bottom of these red 1-1.25 inch tubular flowers. (Can’t identify the white and blue flowers, but their sure add a divine artistic touch to this canvas.
Blooming Beaver Tail Cactus
Brittlebush, the predominant gold of this desert
Ocotillo, another hummingbird favorite. This plant spends 90+% of its life looking like an ugly dead plant with nasty thorns, until the spring rains when it greens up and blooms for a few weeks.
March 27, 2011 at 10:22 pm |
Great JD and Karen, thanks for sharing