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While much of the country is still buried under blankets of snow or drenched by rain we are enjoying Spring here in Tucson. Located near the heart of the Sonoran Desert, Tucson is experiencing a spectacular wildflower year. We were fortunate this year as the winter rainy season was actually a wet one. The multiple winter storms that swept down from Alaska, though cold, brought some much needed rain which fueled our lush Spring growth.

We have a short window to soak in the beauty since Tucson’s Spring season only runs from mid-February to late April. Usually by mid-May the temperatures have soared to over 100 and precipitation is a distant memory. The heat can come much earlier though; in 1989 it topped 100 on April 19th. Thankfully some years it warms up slowly, in 1905 it took until June 22nd to hit the triple digits. Ah, the good, old days…

May and June make up the Foresummer Drought season which is exactly that. The whole desert holds its breath until the Summer Monsoon season starts, usually in mid-July. The monsoons last through mid-September and provide the majority of the desert’s rainfall. In good years that is close to 9” of rain in the Tucson area. Precipitation amounts vary widely across the Sonoran Desert but that should come as no surprise since the desert is so vast.

Stretching from southeastern California to southwestern Arizona and south into the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora, the Sonoran Desert covers over 120,000 square miles. Since the terrain is so varied, annual rainfall amounts range from a mere 3” up to a whopping 15” a year. The Sonoran Desert is not only the hottest of the North American deserts—it is also the wettest, which clearly isn’t saying much.

The precipitation is spread out over two seasons: Summer Monsoon and Winter. In the Sonoran Desert, Winter runs from December through mid-February and is characterized by cool days, cold nights, rain, and occasionally even snow. As soon as the days grow longer and warmer, plant life jumps into action. Most of the herbaceous plants and shrubs bloom in the Spring, while many of the trees and cacti wait until closer to the monsoon season. Since the Sonoran Desert supports over 2,000 species of native plants there is almost always something blooming.

With a few ups and downs it has been in the 80s since the beginning of February, so the desert came alive early this year. Plants weren’t the only ones to get a jump on things; wildlife has been busy also. Birds have been on their nests for several weeks now and as early as late February we heard the unmistakable hungry chirps of babies in the nest.

It will be tough to leave, since Spring is such an amazing time in the desert. We have been spending as much time as possible outside and we have been rewarded with some amazing flowers. From the tall to the unbelievably short and everything in between the desert is colorful right now. So far we have seen: Desert Marigolds, Yellow Desert Primrose, Mojave Lupine, Fiddleneck, Mexican Gold Poppy, White Tackstem, Southwestern Prickly Poppy, Emory’s Globemallow, Arizona Jewelflower, Gordon’s Bladderpod, Esteve’s Pincushion, Desert Star, White Easterbonnets, Scorpion Weed, London Rocket (non-native), Desert Bell, Brittlebush, Parry’s Penstemon, and Creosote Bush.

Photos: View our photographs from Tucson in Full Bloom (46 photos).