With a wave of her magic wand, Mother Nature says, “Yes, this looks like the right place.”

Quite thoughtful, don’t you think?

Spring arrives with hope, laughter, a blank canvas, and a paint palate.

And it never tiptoes, does it? Initially, I thought I might just blast a gallery of photos, since this year everything about spring in the desert, is the superbloom. But I remember not too many years ago when I thought the superbloom was a word coined by locals.

Turns out…it’s a thing.

 What is a superbloom?  The easy explanation is to say it is a floral explosion in arid southwest climates. It is extra, super, as the  word implies.  With wildflowers, there are never guarantees and there are always conditions. So those who blame it on the rain are only partially correct.  

Conditions for a Superbloom: There is a list of ingredients for optimal bloom. Rain is necessary, and it must be consistent rain over several months. Cooler nighttime temperatures strengthen and dictate a healthy germination period. And interestingly enough, drought contributes to a wildflower bloom too. Seeds, dormant for years, are ever-present, waiting, and gathering energy. 

There is patience involved, theirs and ours, and that epic show for someday is worth that wait.  

Necessities of the Superbloom:  Indigenous communities celebrate the blossoms for its ethnobotanical qualities. In fact, many of us appreciate the edible and medicinal charms, don’t we? Speak to the elders and they will tell you the fresh vegetation also helps with flooding. The complex root systems bring soil stability, and mitigates flood waters. And if nothing else…wildflowers provide bees, butterflies and other pollinators with food. 

I am going to give you a handful of wildflowers so each petal that falls will remind you that the earth breaths. – Carolyn Riker

Today: Wildflower season in the southwest, is much like the leaf-peeping in the east. The difference? It is not promised.  This year all the conditions have lined up perfectly and the flowers are trickling in. To me it feels like one of our brilliant sunsets set itself down on our landscape. And like a pop of confetti, our neighborhoods are quite prolific as well. 

let me ask, if I may, for just a few, small wildflowers on my way. those free and imperfect scattered souls. those mighty and steadfast champions of light. ever growing. and flowing. and blowing. and glowing. beside me. – Ellie Kaye 

Wind Kisses, Donna