Sounds like the Mojave is in a "once in a lifetime" bloom. Hope it's still going off a week from now when I'm visiting.
Mojave in Bloom

Wow we have no blooms a few hours north, I was in death valley last weekend and no blooms, not near enough water this year.

Interesting rockchucker. And the experts really don't know why this bloom is happening (in the Joshua Tree NP area at least). It will probably be tapering off when I go there for the 20th and 21st of this month. Sometimes plants bloom in a last ditch effort to propagate...hopefully its not something like that.

Crossing the Grapevine a couple weeks ago we were rewarded with carpets of California poppies. I don't know whether it was lucky timing or an unusual display, but was impressed, either way.

Later, driving up the Salinas Valley I was astonished they were irrigating in March. Unusual, to say the least.

Here's hoping you get to feast on the Mojave display!

Cheers,

Spectacular is very relative with the Yucca and Joshua Tree. It's not like the blooms really jump out at you, and I just hit the tail end of. The Joshua Trees were covered with seed pods so it does appear that for these Yucca it has been a special booming season. But, while the Pinion Pine and the Scrub Oak looked great, the rest of the vegetation looked very dry already. The Mormon Tea Plants looked positively anorexic and looked like they were suffering. It was hot up there by mid morning and stayed that way till late afternoon. Lucky there are shady spots to go to most of the day.

Some stovies were in Joshua Tree over 10 days ago, flowers were out still and some cacti starting to bloom.
Duane