A few minutes after photographing this Stressed Mesquite I looked across the creek to the slope of volcanic rock fallen from the cliff of Black Top Mesa where clumps of dark yellow, in the following photograph of that cliff, mark clusters of flowering Mexican Poppies.
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Plentiful winter rains of 2008 trigged a profusion of Mexican Poppies throughout the Superstition Wilderness. Here is a photograph captured after our expedition.
Look carefully for a scattering of color, like gold dust, at the foot of the volcanic cliffs. That is spring blooms of Mexican Poppy (Eschscholtzia californica). This gold wonder is plentiful from the month of late February through April, varying with the rains.
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Michael Stephen Wills Photography 
Wow, those Mexican poppies really add a ‘pop’ of colour! Beautiful x
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Surprising to find them in the desert during an extended drought.
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Yes, amazing! We have a somewhat similar looking yellow ‘poppy’ here, called the ‘Yellow horned poppy’, and it loves a sunny and dry climate too, growing mostly on shingle beaches here. Not quite the desert though! x
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The Yellow Horned Poppy must be salt tolerant.
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Indubbiamente meravigliosi i papaveri!
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