Badwater Road south of Salt Pool Road, Death Valley National Park, CA, 3/3/2016
During the wildflower super bloom of 2016, I traveled to Death Valley where I discovered this natural garden of blossoming desert gold or desert sunflower (Geraea canescens) at 210 feet below sea level in Badwater Basin. Other spots in the valley had more spectacular blooms in terms of quantity, but I was charmed by how delicate and lovely the flowers looked here with the rugged Black Mountains as a backdrop. The flower of this colorful annual is popular with bees and birds, while the seeds are an important food source for birds and rodents.
