BLOOM ALERT!!

After all the rains the BLOOMS HAVE BEGUN in the desert!

Actually we found the "bigger than your fist" blooms in the Lower Parashant Area down Arizona County Road 111 below Pakoon Springs.

Anyone who hasn't been hiding under a rock down here… will remember that the last time succulents like the Joshua Trees [Yucca brevifolia] bloomed in this area was two years ago. No one knows for shure how they do it, but it seems to be related to a "cold snap" and springs rains and timing of the temperature rise and day length and… well who knows. The little beggars aren't telling! But they are doing it again.

We rode our ATVs down that way on March 11th (2010) and found that there were several trees (about 8 to 10 percent of what was there) that were in bloom or had developed unopened buds. So it may not be a "full bloom" like two years ago; but, we can hope.

The Mojave Yucca [Yucca schidigera, a.k.a. Spanish Dagger] don't look like they are even close yet — and they may not this year. None of the cactus species look like they are ready and none of the wildflowers. The Tamarisk [a.k.a. the bane of our existence, a.k.a. Salt Cedar] however is doing its thing along river and lake banks – where we wish it wouldn't. If there were just a way to get the Quagga mussels to eat Tamarisk we'd have it made!

Learn A Little More

To learn a bit more about the succulents of the Parashant-Gold Butte (Mojave) deserts, see the Offroading Home Resource Pages.