Wildflower/cactus bloom in Arizona this April

[Bruce M. Herman]

I'll be in Arizona from 4/15-24. I plan to spend the first couple of days in the Grand Canyon-Wupatki-Sunset Crater area, and the rest will be spent in the Tucson area with family. Does anyone have a sense of where the wildflowers and cactus will be blooming at that time? I listened to a piece on NPR a week ago and it sounded like the popies were peaking in the Tucson area then. My hope is that the bloom may still be on-going in either the higher altitudes (the mountains east of Tucson, Grand Canyon south rim?) or perhaps riparian environments. Is there any place that you would recommend as having good potential this April?

Thanks,
Bruce

[Eric Woodbury]

www.desertusa.com

[bob woitaszewski]

Poppies have peaked around PHX area. Still in pretty good shape. Buckhorn Cholla is in full bloom, the heghog cactus stated last week, prickly pear is a way off.
Can't comment around Tuscon, try the AZ stat parks web site, they have a Ranger cam for all the state parks wildflowers. It's getting to 90 degrees in the Valley of the Sun mid-week so better hurry

[Mark_3632]

Check the Globe area. Take I40 to holbrook and swing down SR77 to globe on your way to tucson. Things were winding down around Tucson when I was there week before last, but globe looked like it was just starting. Cactus flowers might be popping out in Saguaro east and west. Flowers were better at Saguaro East though. No matter what, the desert is really green.

[Anthony J. Kohler]

There's no visible sign of cactus blooms yet in the Sedona area. Poppies are all over the place, but the hedgehog cactus - typically the first to bloom - haven't begun to bud that I've noticed.

The Flagstaff - Wupatki area is a good 1500 feet higher than we are. Temperatures there hit a whopping 60 degrees yesterday.

[Don Boyd]

Bruce, I live in Tucson and would be happy to update you just before you come out. (I will be out of town photographing in the Escalante area beginning April 16.) I will be out shooting this coming weekend.

The prickly pear cactus in my yard (on the eastern slope of the Tucson Mountains) are starting to blossom now and others will be joining them over the next month or longer . My wife says that there are many wildflowers in bloom in the King's Canyon area (start from the parking lot across the road from the Sonora Desert Museum) and along the Sweetwater trail heading west towards King's Canyon (begins at the end of Camino del Cerro/Ruthrauff). A month ago blossoms were starting to show up at the base of Kitt Peak. Two weeks ago Catalina State Park was iffy but might be showing more now.

Send me a note and I'll send you my phone number.