Spring is to California's southeastern deserts - Joshua Tree, Mojave, and Anza-Borrego - what autumn is to New England. From February to June, depending on rainfall and snow melt, the deserts are alive with color as flowers, cacti, shrubs, and trees come into bloom and migratory birds make their way north.
People come every year, and the display can be anywhere from ho-hum to splendid. This year it has earned an "above average" grade from Jennifer Imhoof who was answering questions about the best wildflower viewing areas at the Cottonwood Visitors Center.
Joshua Tree National Park is less than an hour's drive from Palm Springs and Palm Desert, two upscale and tourist-friendly Coachella Valley communities nestled amid the dramatic Little San Bernardino, Santa Rosa, and San Jacinto mountains. Along with the geology, flora and fauna, and the creature comforts the twin cities provide, the area boasts some of the best weather in the country. While temperatures may dip into the low 50s at night, daytime temperatures this time of year range between 70 and 90, and humidity is low.
Where humans have settled in this valley, there are gorgeous plantings - sparks of bougainvillea, a botanist's fortune in cacti and succulents, birds of paradise with enough queenly flower spikes to stock a Harvard Square florist shop, and huge clusters of snapdragons and petunias.
Tourists come here to golf at more than 100 courses, gamble at dozens of casinos, troll the art galleries and antiques shops that line Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs and El Paseo Drive in Palm Desert, or take in performances at Palm Springs' Annenberg Theater and Palm Desert's McCallum Theatre.
We were there for the nature show. We had visited Joshua Tree National Park in November when the desert surprised us by already showing signs of bloom. The park is immense, almost 800,000 acres, and we wanted to explore it more fully in spring, hoping for a good blooming year. We weren't disappointed.
