We haven't had a great (or even "good", to me) spring wildflower outburst here
in Arizona since 2001, mainly because of the lack of fall rains.

Well, this spring should be different ... we had a couple of good soaker rains
in October, which is what scuffs up dormant seeds and starts them germinating,
and have had periodic rains in Nov and Dec, including a real soaker right now.
In the past few drought years we only had one or two light rains all fall in
the low desert, not enough to kick-start the flower cycle.

So hopefully we will get a bountiful crop of gold poppies and lupine and a
dozen other species flowering from as early as mid-February through April
(depending on how quickly the heat kicks in and if we get more moisture in Jan
and Feb).  

Bill