California poppies - RVing with Rex

Where to RV to See Wildflowers Year-Round

To see wildflowers year-round in your RV, plan a route that follows the changing bloom seasons across different regions and climates

If you’re thinking about a road trip to somewhere warm and colorful, here are the best places to see wildflowers in the U.S. Wherever you go, remember to respect the natural beauty—avoid trampling and stick to pics rather than picking.

Flowers have long been powerful symbols in literature representing complex human emotions, ideas, and themes. Different flowers carry distinct meanings that authors use to enrich their works, often conveying love, purity, death, renewal, and more.

“To be a flower,” Emily Dickinson wrote, “is profound responsibility.”

A century later, in one of the most poetic children’s books of all time, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry made his hero’s central preoccupation the responsibility for a single flower—the Little Prince’s beloved rose: fragile and self-concerned, ferociously hungry for love, capable of such tenderness and such cruelty, so ephemeral and so stubborn, so much a miniature of the contradictory animating forces that make us human.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (“A rose by any other name…”) symbolizes timeless love; Blake’s poetry explores love’s purity and fragility; Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter uses the wild rosebush to reflect beauty amid moral complexity. Roses also symbolize eternal love in Romantic literature.

RVers love nature and when nature is in its most beautiful attire it’s covered with wildflowers. Fall colors and leaf changes are equally as beautiful and fleeting. To catch a glimpse of nature’s show you’ll want the flexibility to hop in an RV and go.

It’s the nature of wildflowers to grow up fast and fade away maybe lasting a month or two at most. If you want to see them year-round you’ll need to rely on planning and timing things just right. Don’t worry, it can be done!

Wildflowers *© Rex Vogel, all rights reserved*

What is a Wildflower

A flower that grows naturally in the wild

The proper definition of a wildflower is a flower that was not planted, that grows naturally in the wild. But I’m not going to be a stickler here. In some locations—think Texas and its famous Bluebonnets—wildflower seeds have been collected and intentionally planted in gardens and along highways and wayfares. Wildflowers, because they grow in the wild, they are hearty flowers and when you catch them in bloom, it’s like an explosion of color. No matter what variety you see.

Peak time for wildflowers

The peak time for wildflowers varies by region and species

Obviously, in most places the peak time for flowers is in spring. But spring comes at different times in different parts of the country. Here’s where that timing thing comes in.

Wildflowers in the south

In Florida and the southern states wildflowers start popping out in early spring—think late February or March—and last until late fall around Thanksgiving. A drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains at the right time will show off southern wild blooms.

Wildflower in the north

In the north, they may not start showing up until late May or even early June. They may last in different waves for different species until the first frosts of fall. Generally, they start to fade and wilt a bit in the full heat and humidity of summer. There’s plenty of time to view wildflowers during peak camping season. Plan your first RV trip of the season around camping near a bloom.

Wildflowers in the west

The super blooms of California and Arizona are legendary. Entire hillsides turn a rainbow of colors for a brief period as a result of dormant wildflower seeds in western desert soil. This usually happens if there has been a rainy, wet winter season. A lot of environmental conditions must align for a super bloom to occur which makes this natural phenomenon worth traveling for. People flock to California from all over the country to view the super bloom and take photos against a blanket of color.

When viewing super blooms or any other wildflower bloom follow local laws and guidelines about staying on designated walking paths. Trampling the wildflowers could damage a fragile ecosystem.

For additional inspiration read (and enjoy the photos):

How to plan an RV route to see wildflowers

Choose the right wildflower destinations and timing

But contrary to what many think, wildflowers bloom pretty much all year round as long as it’s not too cold. So if you want to see wildflowers year-round, you’ll want to set up a route. Fortunately, that route pretty much follows what just happens to be the favorite travel migration of many full-time RVers.

Let’s go over a few tips for finding beauty and blooms along your travels.

Try to stay in 70 degree weather as much as possible

Focus on timing and locations with mild spring temperatures

For most people, temperatures around 70-75 degrees are the most comfortable. The same is true for many of the most colorful wildflowers. If you start in the south in early spring and slowly make your way north to the I-10 corridor in Northern Florida and then head west, you can count on finding wildflowers all along the way.

When the weather starts hitting the 80s and above, somewhere in Texas come late March or early April, make your way into New Mexico and use altitude to make a slight turn to the northwest, keeping those temps in the 70s as you slowly make your way into the mountains of northern New Mexico and on into most any place north and west you want to go in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.

Explore the west from May to September, visit the National Parks, get out of the most stifling heat, and keep climbing through the Rockies and beyond. Wildflowers will line your path. When the weather starts to get cold start coming down from the mountains and pick a northern route back east like I-94. Stop and explore the Dakotas—North and South.

Meander through Minnesota on into Wisconsin following, say, US-2, into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula until the growing chills turn the Sumac brown. Come down through the Michigan Lower Peninsula and head east through Ontario paralleling Lakes Erie and Ontario. Get to New York and the Adirondacks as fall colors peak and the northern wildflowers shrivel in the first frosts.

Then skedaddle back south watching the Geese migrate above and the fall wildflowers below until you get to someplace in Florida where the 70s are a pretty much daily average all winter long (generally, south of a line from Sarasota on the Gulf to Port St Lucie) along the Atlantic Coast. Wildflowers will revive when the summer temps begin to drop. In the coldest months, head to the Everglades and The Keys. Wildflowers bloom there pretty much all year.

A clever climatologist routed a 70 degree road trip around the U.S. where you can enjoy 70-degree weather all year long. Here are three articles based on his climate research:

Where to find the best wildflower displays

Plan visits during the noted peak bloom months and consider popular hikes or scenic drives that showcase the flowers

Here are some specific wildflower blooms to look for.

Key West

In Key West, the wildflower and plant scene is rich and tropical, supported by the island’s warm temperatures and ample rainfall. While not all are strictly native wildflowers, many species thrive naturally or have become well-established in the local environment

In November and December look for Citron Zephyr Lily, Bitter Melon, and Pencilflower.

For an immersive experience visiting places like the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden offers a chance to see many native and tropical wildflowers and plants in a curated setting.

The Everglades

The Everglades is a unique subtropical wetland ecosystem rich in diverse native plants and wildflowers adapted to its wet and often saline environment. The glades are famous for bromeliads and epiphytic orchids. In fact, 39 native orchid species occur in the park in addition to about 750 other kinds of native plants. Seven different orchid species bloom in January and February.

Louisiana

Louisiana’s diverse ecosystems—from coastal wetlands and swamps to pine savannahs and prairies—support a rich variety of native wildflowers and plants well adapted to the state’s warm, humid climate. Louisiana’s coastal marshes and swamps are home to plants like the bald cypress and various Louisiana irises (including Iris fulva and Iris hexagona) which add vibrant color to wetland landscapes. Prairies and savannahs historically hosted diverse wildflowers and grasses such as purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and wiregrass.

State parks like North Toledo Bend State Park and Chemin-a-Haut State Park showcase many native species.

You want to be in Lousiana in early Match into April to see the wild azaleas. A must for RVing wildflower lovers is the 31 miles long Wild Azalea Trail that begins at the Valentine Lake Recreation Area near Garner and ends at the Woodworth. This is a National Recreation Trail because of its incredible beauty. There is nothing like being surrounded by wild azaleas when they’re in bloom.

Gather inspiration for Louisiana travels with these guides:

Texas

Texas is famous for Bluebonnets. By the second week of April, you want to be in the town of Burnett, about 60 miles northwest of Austin and directly west of Georgetown on Highway 29. That’s when blooming wildflowers are usually at their peak and that’s when Burnett holds its annual Bluebonnet Festival.

Over 1,200 plant species including bluebonnets, desert marigold, desert primrose, and yucca are found in Big Bend National Park.

Here are some helpful resources:

New Mexico

New Mexico has eight distinct ecosystems from the desert in the south to 12,000 foot high mountains in the north. And every spring, the state’s meadows, mountains, canyons, and deserts burst with native wildflowers. It starts in March in the southern deserts and moves northward with warming temperatures and spring rains reaching a peak in central New Mexico by May.

Gather inspiration for New Mexico travels with these guides:

Wyoming/Montana/Idaho

From June through August up and down the Rockies wildflowers abound. In the forests, look for lupine. In the meadows and sagebrush-steppe, you’ll see spring beauties such as Indian paintbrush, glacier lilies, and steer’s head.

Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Parks are in bloom June and July. Arctic lupine, mountain arnica, glacier lilies; best viewed at Logan Pass and Hidden Lake Trail (Glacier National Park). All throughout the west and northwest, wildflowers can be found bursting with color right in through September.

The Dakotas

In the Dakotas, some of the best wildflower viewing spots are concentrated in South Dakota’s Black Hills region and North Dakota’s prairie and park areas, offering diverse blooms and scenic landscapes.

Look for wild Asters, Vervain, and maybe mint still blooming here into The Upper Midwest. Wildflowers throughout this area in September include Alstromeria, wild Chrysanthemum, and Sweet Violet.

Renowned for scenic drives like Needles Highway and Wildlife Loop Road, Custer State park features meadows filled with colorful wildflowers such as prairie coneflowers and scarlet globemallow. Trails around Sylvan Lake and the Sunday Gulch Trail offer immersive wildflower hikes.

Late spring and summer bring blooms of prairie coneflowers, sego lilies, and scarlet globemallow across rugged terrain in Badlands National Park. Sage Creek Wilderness offers quieter wildflower patches.

In spring, Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s prairie blooms with pasque flowers (wild crocus), draba, and prairie smoke, signaling the arrival of spring. The park’s upland prairies are excellent for wildflower walks and photography.

Here are some helpful resources:

Get a wildflower identification app

For identifying wildflowers using your phone

Use an app to help identify the wildflowers you encounter; there many to choose from. Picture This comes highly recommended. Simply take a photo and it then identifies the flower or plant and tells you all about it. Knowing what you see makes it even more special. PlantNet an excellent alternative allows searching by region, helpful for narrowing down local wildflowers.

Happy Trails. And be sure to smell the flowers!

Worth Pondering…

Wildflowers are the loveliest of all because they grow in uncultivated soil, in those hard, rugged places where no one expects them to flourish.

—Micheline Ryckman.

Fields of Poppies Adorn Picacho Peak (State Park)

The sere landscape around Picacho Peak receives a splash of vibrant colors come spring, transforming it into one of the best wildflower spots in the state

It’s no secret that Arizona is currently experiencing what may be the best wildflower bloom in possibly two decades. Mexican poppies, purple lupine, brittlebush, scorpion weed, and globe mallows (among others) are blanketing the desert as they put on a vivid and virtually unforgettable springtime display.

Central and southern state parks are in the midst of prime time, and the blooms will increase with intensity northward as summer draws closer. Right now, Picacho Peak, Alamo, and Catalina state parks are great places to stretch the legs, take some pics, and enjoy Mother Nature’s show. Oracle State Park should be coming on strong very soon as well!

Picacho Peak State Park © Rex Vogel, all rights reserve

The old saying goes “April showers bring May flowers,” but Arizona operates on its own timetable!

March is peak wildflower season, and with the rain and snow the state is alive with color. Wildflower season is upon us.

Picacho Peak is arguably one of the best spots to see blooming wildflowers in Arizona, with bushels of incredible golden blooms around the base of the mountain and campgrounds. The desert wildflowers of the park offer a unique and beautiful contrast to the green and brown hues of this Sonoran Desert destination.

Experience the trails as they wind through a carpet of yellow, meandering through the desert exposing new beautiful sights each step along the way. Plants, shrubs, and cacti are all abloom—as if for your pleasure.

Springtime weather is perfect for a desert camping experience, book a site and expose yourself to the beauty that spring-time Arizona so selflessly shares with you.

The ephemeral Mexican gold poppy is the litmus test for wildflower season: you’ll either spot sparse individuals or be blinded by a field of electric orange blooms. And this is a banner year for Picacho Peak, a superbloom! Everywhere we look, we see pops of colors.

Located some 30 miles south of our home base in Casa Grande, just off Interstate 10, the state park has been drenched with some unusually large storms stretching all the way back to last summer’s monsoon. There’s a lush ground cover unlike anything we’ve seen in the 20 years since we first hiked this park.

Don’t think you have to climb the centerpiece spire for the best views (been there, done that in my younger years). Just the opposite, as most poppies, brittlebush, lupines, and globemallows flourish on the lower slopes. You will be able to enjoy plenty of color from the park road and adjacent picnic tables. Come early as parking spaces fill quickly.

We found amazing showings of color on the easy Nature Trail (0.5 miles) and the moderate Calloway Trail (0.7 miles).

Annuals—like poppies and lupines—germinate in the fall with enough rain. Then, throughout the winter, they need consistent rain every two or three weeks to keep growing. Perennials like brittlebush and globemallows don’t need that initial rain and are better able to endure rising temperatures.

The poppies only open on bright, sunny days. They close up every afternoon before the sun descends and on cloudy or windy days. The presence of poppies usually indicates that there has been normal to above-normal rainfall the winter previous. A week of 85-degree days would wipe out the poppies.

Know the cardinal rules of wildflower viewing: Stay on trails, park in designated areas, take your trash home and don’t pick flowers. Some other things to keep in mind: Be prepared with essentials such as water, food, sunscreen, extra layers of clothing, and a trail map that will work even if your cellphone doesn’t.

Worth Pondering…

But pleasures are like poppies spread: You seize the flower

—John Bunyan

Picacho Peak State Park Is Alive With Color

Picacho Peak State Park is one of the best places to see the spring yellow, red, orange, blue, and purple desert blooms

Visitors traveling along I-10 in southern Arizona can’t miss the prominent 1,500-foot peak of Picacho Peak State Park.

Except for the saguaros, Picacho Peak looks like it could have been plucked from the hills of Ireland. The thrust of mountain rising from the desert floor is luxuriantly green. Sitting 30 miles south of our home base in Casa Grande, just off Interstate 10, the state park has been drenched with some unusually large storms stretching all the way back to last summer’s monsoon.

The mountain looks like it is grass all the way up the sides. There’s a lush ground cover unlike anything we’ve seen in the 20 years since we first hiked this park.

Picacho Peak is known for fields of poppies in spring, blanketing the mountain slopes. This is a banner year for Picacho Peak, a superbloom!

I’m crouched down.

Eye level with the poppy.

I’m feeling lucent.

Even a little lightheaded!

Maybe it’s the poppy—that master of color, refraction, and mind-altering chemistry.

Then again, maybe I’m just not as good at contorting myself into a poppy-level crouch as I was in my younger days.

Either way, the poppies have returned—fulfilling their ancient, flashy promise.

They pretty much skipped 2018—the year with no winter.

But spring seekers and flower junkies have been waiting this spring with trembling anticipation—having noted the steady succession of wet Pacific storms in December and January and on through February.

As a result the flowers have emerged on the slopes of Picacho Peak.

I love all the flowers—the lupine and globemellow and the yellow brittle brush. But the poppies have my heart.

Those dreamlike petals are only three cells thick. The cells on the top and bottom are loaded with pigments. The botanists—who printed their results in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A—said they could find no other reports of a greater concentration of pigment in the natural world.

And those cells are folded and fitted together like jigsaw puzzle pieces. This creates a whole network of little air spaces built into the flower.

As a result of this remarkable structure, the light comes in through that top layer of folded cells and then bounces around inside the cells—passing back and forth through the pigment. The rays of light refract, a sunset in a layer of cells.

All of this brilliant manipulation of color has everything to do with the insect pollinators the poppies are working to attract. Bear in mind, in a good wildflower year those pollinators have a whole hillside of clamoring flowers to choose from.

Poppies have evolved to produce different colors, depending on their pollinators. This enables them to attract a wide variety of pollinators.

Other researchers have come up with some intriguing theories on the extreme adaptability of poppies, which have adapted to different conditions all over the world. The University of York scientists were mostly focused on trying to figure out the evolution of poppy chemistry, which produces things like opium and painkillers.

The poppies have been up to this for the past 100 million years or so and likely accounts for the ability of the Golden California and Mexican poppies to cope with the extremes of the Sonoran Desert climate in Arizona and southern California.

All I know is I can’t get enough of poppies. Call it addiction.

But excuse me for now—the poppies have fully opened to the light of another day. The flowers only open on bright, sunny days. They close up every afternoon before the sun descends and on cloudy or windy days. A week of 85-degree days would wipe out the poppies.

So I must enjoy the glorious poppies.

And hope—at my age—that I can still stand up when I’m done.

Worth Pondering…

Through the dancing poppies stole A breeze, most softly lulling to my soul.

—John Keats