I photographed this little Mexican Gold Poppy last spring at Catalina State Park near Tucson, Arizona.
Something many desert dwellers don’t know about poppies is they are annuals. This means the plant only lives for one growing season, producing and scattering some seeds, and then dying out.
The next season, in order to have more poppies, rain must fall during the right period of time for the seeds to germinate and start to grow the next round of plants. If the rain doesn’t come within that window, the seeds will lay dormant, ready to try for germination again the next year.
For our Mexican Gold Poppies, that germination period is sometime within November and December. And unfortunately, Arizona has gotten essentially no rain since August, and it’s likely we will see very few poppies this spring.
Should we get rain in the next two months, we may see flowers from our perennials — plants that are established and continue to live for more than one growing season.
Brittlebush, creosote, and chuparosa are examples of perennial shrubs that may still bloom come March if we get some moisture. The cacti, which bloom later in spring — and in the case of the Saguaros, into late May and early June — also have a chance.
We’ll see if the next couple months bring any rain, but as I mentioned in an edition from last week Where are the Mother Rains?, it’s a La Niña winter which likely means continued dry weather. However, it only takes a couple good storms to have an impact.
That does it for today’s Daily Dose. Have a great Wednesday!
-Jake
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