Here's your state by state guide to wildflowers in the Southwest. Learn about wildflowers and where to spot them in Spring and Summer. This is a great guide for students and for photographers.
In Arizona, especially, it’s all about the rain. A rainy winter can produce lush and showy wildflowers. A dry winter… well, just the opposite. No matter how much water comes to the desert, you will most always find beautiful displays of flowering cacti. Some bloom in the Spring and some in the Summer. We have selected these websites as the best for wildflower information.
In general the wildflower season in New Mexico runs from February to April. However there are climate zones within New Mexico that run from desert to mountain environments. You will enjoy a variation in wildflowers depending on the altitude of the area you are visiting. Just as with any mountainous area, wildflowers abound in summer. At lower elevations, spring is wildflower time. A photographic field guide of New Mexico mountain wildflowers and desert wildflowers will help you identify the flowers you see in New Mexico.
Utah is yet another state with diverse environments. There are mountains and deserts. Depending on the elevation wildflower season may be Spring or Summer.
Visit during July in beautiful Crested Butte for a week of botanical celebration! Bring your family and together you will have an unforgettable experience: enjoy breathtaking mountain landscapes and magnificent native flora that prompted the 1989 designation by the Colorado Legislature as the Wildflower Capital of Colorado.
Spring is a great time to see the Texas State Flower, the Bluebonnet, in all it’s glory. And, if that isn’t enough, over 5,000 varieties of wild flowers carpet the rolling hills of the central Texas Hill Country. Whether you like to tour wineries, hike, or kick back at a historic B&B, the Texas Hill Country will have something for you.
Wildflowers spring forth from the hills around Reno and Northern Nevada when there is a wet winter and a good Sierra snowpack. Nearby places to enjoy abundant wildflowers are the Huffaker Hills in south Reno, Washoe Lake State Park down toward Carson City, and up near Virginia City. These are some easy places to reach, but far from the only ones. Look around and you are sure to find good wildflower displays in lots of places close to town.
