This is a close-up of the bloom of the joshua tree. The bloom starts out looking like a pod and as it opens it reveals this beautiful flower.

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This delicate flower blooms in the evening and closes during the sunny days. Since we had drizzle and low clouds, we were able to find it open in all it's beauty.

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I'm holding what is commonly called desert birdcage. After this particular plant dies, it leaves this birdcage-like structure behind. Curiously, we weren't able to find any of these plants blooming in the area!

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There were huge areas covered by these little yellow flowers. We were never able to ID the flower. Since they were so low to the ground you had to get on your belly to look at them closely, I dubbed them "yellow bellies"!

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This airy looking plant had the most beautiful purple going to blue blooms. It's just amazing that the desert, which is usually so forlorn looking is the home right now to some of the most beautiful flowers I've seen.

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We began calling this flower "cats paw" because that is exactly what it looked like. Upon further investigation, we discovered that it is actually lacy phacelia. Regardless of what it's called, it sure was pretty.

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This flower did indeed look like a pincushion or hive. I wish I had been able to give you a closer look.

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Seeing this unique flower was definitely one of the highlights of this trip. As you can see, it's name describes it well. What you can't see is that the 'candle' is a hollow tube and the 'flame' are delicate little purple flowers. According to our friend Clare, these beauties are located in a rather small area and were more in abundance this year than in previous years. What a glorious year for the desert!

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