wildflowerdates

When the wildflowers peak

Bluebonnets in the Hill Country, poppies at Antelope Valley, lupine above Crested Butte — every big bloom has a rhythm, and spring climbs the map like a ladder: desert floor first, alpine meadows last. Here's where the year stands.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Alpine Subalpine lupine · Mount Rainier — early July to late August, best mid-July Paintbrush · Albion Basin — early July to mid-August, best late July Montane Trillium · Great Smoky Mountains — late March to early May, best early April Lupine · Crested Butte — late May to early September, best late June Catawba rhododendron · Roan Highlands — late May to early July, best early June Colorado blue columbine · Colorado Rockies — mid-June to mid-August, best late June Foothills Baby blue eyes · North Table Mountain — late February to early May, best mid-March Bluebonnets · Texas Hill Country — early March to late April, best mid-March Balsamroot · Columbia River Gorge — late March to early May, best mid-April Valleys & prairies Goldfields · Carrizo Plain — early March to early May, best late March California poppies · Antelope Valley — mid-March to mid-April, best late March Virginia bluebells · Potomac valley — late March to mid-April, best late March Camas · Camas Prairie — late April to late June, best mid-May Coneflowers · Flint Hills — late May to late June, best early June Wild sunflowers · Kansas prairie — late July to mid-September, best late August Desert floor Desert gold · Death Valley — early February to late March, best late February Mexican gold poppies · Picacho Peak and southern Arizona — early February to late March, best late February Desert sand verbena · Anza-Borrego — mid-February to late March, best late February Big Bend bluebonnets · Big Bend country — late February to late April, best early March Brittlebush · Sonoran Desert around Phoenix — late February to mid-April, best mid-March this week
Each rung is a famous bloom's usual window; the deeper stretch is its best weeks. Rungs lit violet have their windows open this week. Based on reports from iNaturalist naturalists.

A few of this week's rungs

A quiet week in the fields. The desert wakes first — usually late February.

What's in bloom right now, state by state →

Is this a superbloom year?

The desert superblooms — Death Valley, Anza-Borrego, the Carrizo Plain — follow the winter rain, and the rain is measurable months before the first flower opens. We track it storm by storm.

Is 2027 a superbloom year? Rain to date, desert by desert →

What makes a superbloom, and every spring that was one

How we call the windows

Based on reports from iNaturalist naturalists. Thousands of dated, expert-checked flowering reports trace each bloom's usual rhythm — when it starts, when it peaks, when it fades — and this year's reports show whether the season is running early or late.

We name public reserves, parks, and roads only — never exact pins, never private land.