As Mother Nature Builds Her Spring Bouquets, State Parks Offer On-the-Spot Wildflower Coverage With ‘Ranger Cams’   MOTHER NATURE'S TOUCH -- Photographer Christi Brookes captures one of Mother Nature's intense colors in this photo of a blooming cholla. Throughout the state, the flora are predicted to be abundant this year as the rainfalls have been good. Arizona State Parks is helping the public, including out-of-state RVers, to track the wildflowers in the desert bloom with their Ranger Cams.

The Arizona State Parks department is already fielding calls about the possible flower bloom this year and are making plans for the droves of visitors those flowers might bring, many of them visiting RVers.

 To help the public track the evolution of the delicate fields of blooming poppies, the rangers take pictures and post them on the Arizona State Parks Web site — www.azstateparks.com

. "We call them Ranger Cams," says Chief of Operations Janet Hawks.  "Our rangers and volunteers take pictures as soon as the flowers start blooming, and visitors can then decide when to leave other states to come here and take their pictures.

Updated information about flowers at each park will also be posted to help people around the country plan their vacations."  Call the "State Parks Wildflower Hotline" at (602) 542-4988, and customer service staff will provide even more details for long-distance travelers, often RVers from other states as well as Arizona.

"We want the visitors to check the Web site regularly, look at the pictures, and then drive out into the surrounding deserts," said Hawks.

According to Picacho Peak Park Manager Rob Young, "At Picacho the rain data are showing 5.4 inches by the end of January this year, which is the accumulated total since September of 2007. “A great flower year was 2001 when there were 5.77 inches of rain by the end of January, so we believe with the rains in February, there should be some magnificent Mexican poppy blooms.   The mountain is greening up, and we see the small plants are looking healthy this year." (See cover photo.)

Flowers in the desert bloom based on the elevations, the rainfall at a certain area, and the temperature.  Usually the order of the bloom is  bladderpods, Mexican poppies, chuparosa, globemallow, brittlebush and then other cacti species.  

Already on some trails in the valley, the little yellow bladderpods are creating yellow carpets across the landscapes.  The tiny yellow-cross style flower gets its name from the small, round fruit pods that develop after pollination.  

Green landscapes are early indications that the wildflowers may be glorious by early March. Other great flower blooming years in Arizona were 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2005 when there were more than eight inches by the end of February.

The public is encouraged to tour State Parks to see flowers on weekdays when there is less traffic and there is plenty of parking. The poppies are just now starting to pop up and if it stays cool, they may not bloom fully until early March.

Wildflower books are available with brochures and maps in rural areas at all of the state parks. The "State Trails Guide," with 550 hiking trails, is also available at all of the state parks.  

For details on different areas around the state, call the State Parks Wildflower Hotline (8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays) at (602) 542-4988 or watch "Ranger Cam" featuring pictures taken regularly  (www.azstateparks.com).    To reach the headquarters for Arizona State Parks call (602) 542-4174.